Thank you catgrl, .7334, brankel1, Taffy Marie, MammaNita4, Mistyann thomas and the guest reviewers for your reviews. I hope you like this chapter.

Part V- Togetherness

Chapter 1- Nostalgia

"Do you have any idea what the freaking time is?" I mumbled through half open eyes, trying to attempt a glare at the man sitting beside me at this early ungodly hour in an old noise making truck which did nothing to give me a peaceful few minutes of stolen sleep "I don't wake up this early on a Sunday when I am not on patrol duty." I stated "It is a crime to be up this early."

Paul chuckled, shaking his head and ignoring my presence, concentrating on the task in front of him instead.

I took that as my sign to continue though "Where the hell are we going on a date that we have to leave at…." I glanced at my watch, opening my eyes a bit to see the time "5:45 in the morning on a Sunday, I repeat." I muttered in annoyance. Seriously, who started their date at 5:45 am?

He chuckled harder, his eyes wide open concentrating on the road, which in hindsight was a good thing for us, as again he was driving, while I lazily tried to get a few more minutes of stolen sleep, before I was forced to face the day and the bright light that came with it.

"I thought a date was supposed to be about dressing up and applying makeup and going for a fancy dinner or something wherein the boy brings flowers with him and opens the door or pulls the chair for you or stuff like that. I am wearing a pair of jeans and an old Shirt that has seriously seen better days, and it is way too early to apply makeup, or think about putting my tangled mess of a hair in a hairstyle. It is too much of hard work, and I am not prepared for that right out of bed." I said with a groan, honestly believing in the words spoken. At least that was what movies and Books portrayed dates as.

He sighed, though equally amused as before "We have a long day before us, Bella. If we don't get an early start we will not be ending the date before midnight, and I really don't think your mother will appreciate that, much."

"As pleasing as that sounds, where are we going on this 'special date'?" I asked, curiously.

He just shook his head, with a firm look tightly placed on his face "It is a surprise."

"I hate surprises." I muttered, without skipping a beat. I was not intentionally trying to be rude, but really it was way too early to think about mouth filters and safe conversational topics. Also, to make things oh so wonderful, I had not been able to sleep the entire night. I had laid awake the entire night in excitement, trepidation, anxiety and worry of how things would go today, and so yeah, sleeplessness and I did not go very well together. Add to that the butterflies in my stomach, and yeah, I was a walking talking mess.

My rudeness though did nothing to hamper his mood, as he only laughed harder before mumbling that 'By the end of the night, my opinion was sure to change.'

Yeah, we will see about that.

I shut my eyes, involuntarily, for a few more minutes, before Paul's voice resounded through the truck "Wake up sleepyhead."

I grumbled for a second or two, before opening my eyes and taking in the familiar sight that was surrounding me.

"First Beach" I questioned, mildly disappointed. It was not like I did not like the beach. I had literally grown up here, so this was more like a home away from home, but for a date, I had expected more.

I tried to hide my disappointment; maybe I was being unfair, as Paul definitely had put some thought in this. Even if it was only first beach, I loved coming here, and it was pretty windy and nice. Maybe this had been his idea in the first place. He knew how much I loved it here.

"Do you trust me?" he turned to look at me, his face serious but calm.

I nodded my head instantly, not even needing a minute to think about it. I did trust him and whatever and however he had chosen for our day to go. I was sure to enjoy in his company, and wasn't that was mattered after all on any date- Good company.

"Good" he gave me a relieved nod "Then just trust me on this."

I nodded my head once again, rubbing my hands over my face, wakening me up to the full, before retying my messy bun into a neat presentable ponytail.

"Come on, it's time to get out of here." he said, before walking to my side of the truck and opening the door for me, giving me a hand in jumping out of the truck.

"See, I can also do the car opening or in this case truck door opening thing, no matter what the time of the day is." He teased, pointing to my earlier rant. I just rolled my eyes at him in response.

"Are we going to be walking on the beach?" I asked, not really worried about the cold as such for myself, but I knew that it was windy outside and spending a lot of time out here could not be good for Paul. He was still human, and I had to remember that.

He shrugged "Not for a long while."

I nodded my head, taking the answer in, as we started walking side by side over the cool sand, the moonlit sky, soon to disappear and make way for the sun, a witness to the beginning of our date.

"Do you know this was where we met for the first name?" Paul said, a few minutes into our walk.

"Really" I asked, surprised.

"You don't remember?" he asked, his voice holding genuine curiosity.

I shook my head "Not much. I remember a few moments, but nothing too definite. I have brief memories of our childhood together, but nothing that I can guarantee over."

"You were five and I was six." He smiled, as if reminiscing those moments "You were this brave little girl, willing to fight with me for the sake of her brother who she felt was being mistreated."

"Oh, Please" I said with a laugh "Knowing you, he was probably actually being mistreated."

He gave a look filled with mock shock and disbelief "I cannot believe you think so little of me. I am deeply wounded by your words."

"Shut up!" I laughed, as I hit him on his arm lightly "So, now that you mention it, I remember a bit of it. You and Jared were playing…."

"Monkey in the middle" he completed my sentence "And, Jacob was trying to take the ball from us. Embry had come running to you for help, and Quil being the idiot that he still is, was chasing a hermit crab across the sand not bothering who did what around."

"Hmm" I gave him a contemplative glance "And, let's make a blind assumption here and say that you were not giving the ball to Jacob, taking advantage of your age and size."

He chuckled, teasingly "Oh, how well do you know me!"

I playfully hit him on the arm again, mumbling 'smart-ass'.

"He was three years younger than you, a baby." I said disbelievingly.

He just shrugged his shoulders "He wanted to play with us. He wanted to feel like a 'grown up', as if a six year can be called a grown up, but you get the point. We were just helping him." he said with a determined nod.

"Oh, sure you were." I said sarcastically "I remember you had called me Isabella, and when I had corrected you and told you to call me Bella, you had very rudely said 'Like I care'."

"Yeah" he grinned, shaking his head "I did not prefer to make friends and keep people close. It was a sort of reflex to be rude."

"But, I soon became an exception." I pointed out.

"Yeah" he said, adding in a whisper "You were and are"

"Harry had arrived then, saving you." I added, with a smile on my face.

He gave out a short sarcastic laugh, as if saying 'Yeah right!'

"I would hardly call that saving, not like I needed to be saved in any form."

"You have not seen my wrath. It could have been fatal for you" I said, raising an eyebrow, the smirk on my face firmly placed.

"Yeah?" he said, raising his eyebrow in return "In that case, I know how to handle your wrath."

"And, how would that be?" I questioned.

"Like this" he said, before his freakishly long fingers started tickling me, making me laugh and cry out, simultaneously. Very few people were aware of how ticklish I actually was, and I had made sure to keep it so. Paul was one of the few who unfortunately knew of this secret of mine.

"Okay, stop" I pleaded, after a few torturous seconds "I call truce" I shouted, my laughter out of control.

"That's better." he grinned making me roll my eyes at him.

"One day mister, I am going to find your weakness." I threatened, trying to look as threatening as possible.

"I am so scared" he shuddered, before smirking and grinning once again.

I rolled my eyes at him, trying to once again remember that particular day of my childhood "Harry had called us for a game- Steal the bacon, was it?"

He nodded his head "Yeah, we were in opposite teams, and I had won." He clearly gloated.

"You cheated!" I exclaimed "Anyone can win by cheating."

"What is the proof that I cheated?" he raised an eyebrow "I think that the grapes are just sour."

I gave him an open- mouthed stare "Oh, please! I can defeat you in this any day."

"Are you sure?" he questioned.

"Of course" I stated, looking into his eyes sharply to show him how much I meant what I had said.

"In that case, let's have a rematch." He stated, crossing his arms together "Are you afraid?" he teased, when I did not answer for a minute.

"In your dreams" I said with a nod and a smile "Get ready to lose."

He just chuckled louder "We will see."

I smiled back, as he brought a spare shoe from his truck, making me believe that this entire setup was in fact planned, before he roughly placed it on the sand, equidistant from the both of us.

"Ready" he smirked, facing me.

"As ready as I can be." I said, simply, confidence seeping through my voice.

"On the count of three then" He said "Three, two, one…."

My ears hardly heard the end of that sentence as I ran towards where the shoe was, the only thing on my mind being to pick it up.

It was not as easy though, as Paul clearly had other plans, and refused to let me win that easily. We circled the other for a good few minutes, neither of us ready to back down. Each of us would several times make the action of picking up the shoe, but never did so in actuality, only tempting the other to act and get caught in the act.

After a few minutes of this 'circling around', I had an idea that made my eyes sparkle and a smile spread on my face.

I quickly unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt, giving him a pretty good view of my cleavage. I was not big by any means in that department, but I had enough to speak of.

I know it was evil. I know it was mean, but the way his eyes kept focusing on my girls as I crouched lower, made everything worth it. We were on a date after all, and I was glad and a bit boastful to see such a reaction.

He looked shocked. He looked surprised. He looked numb, and most of all, he looked completely lost and powerless.

I quickly took advantage of this distraction by picking up the shoe and quickly running back to my side of the beach.

"I won" I jumped at my place in happiness, lifting the shoe higher for him to see.

"You cheated" he frowned, pouting.

"There is absolutely no proof of that." I scoffed, repeating his same words at him, buttoning my shirt again to how it was before. "Oh wait, what had you said," I made the action of thinking hard "Winners focus on winning and losers focus on the winner."

I stuck out my tongue at him, playfully as he chuckled and shook his head, his eyes raking over my body as I freely laughed, as if admiring me.

I blushed, looking at the sand beneath my toes, as he laughed but thankfully changed the topic "Let's get out of here. Our second destination is waiting for us."

"Where are we going now?" I asked, confused, as we walked back to the truck, stopping briefly to observe the beautiful sunrise that was just occurring. Seriously, the Beach was the best and most beautiful place to be when the sun rose. It was a beautiful morning to a perfect day, and I could not have possibly asked for a better start than this.

"It is a surprise" he grinned, as we sat in the truck and wore our seatbelts, and he started to drive to our next destination.

"Like I said, I hate surprises." I frowned, adjusting the music system in the truck to play a track that I liked.

He lightly pushing my hand away from the music system "I drive I choose the music."

"Please" I pouted, pushing my lower lip out, in a classic trick that I had heard from others always worked.

He sighed audibly, shaking his head and finally relenting "Fine"

I smiled, before adjusting the music track in the truck, and sitting back on my seat.

"Oh, before I forget. There is something for you here." he said, giving me a box of donuts and a travel sized cup of coffee.

"Couldn't you have given me this before?" I frowned, immediately sipping onto my coffee and taking a sigh of relief when I felt it reach my throat.

Seriously, there is nothing better than a strong cup of coffee to completely wake me up in the morning.

He chuckled "What would be the fun in that, huh? I quite enjoyed your grumbles and tantrums." He playfully smirked.

"Ass" I muttered, as I turned to look outside the window, at the scenery passing by, munching on my doughnut.

"Do you want some?" I offered, turning to look at him.

He just shrugged "I am not that hungry. I will eat something later."

I nodded my head, once again going back to looking outside the window, and smiling when I felt the cold wind caress my face through the rolled down window.

"How could you enjoy that?" Paul asked, curiously.

"What" I questioned confused. What was he asking about?

"The cold wind on your face, Isn't it annoying?" he clarified.

"On the contrary, it is relaxing." I said with a small smile "It feels like all your troubles and worries have disappeared, temporarily maybe, but still disappeared. It is soothing."

He gave me a look of disbelief, but did not say anything else. We sat in silence for a while, humming to the tunes playing, as I felt our destination get nearer and nearer.

"We are going to Seattle?" I asked, surprised.

He nodded his head "Our next destination is in Seattle."

I gave him a curious stare, but instead of pestering him ahead, decided to just wait and watch. Like I said before, Paul had definitely put a lot of thought into this.

"Woodland Park Zoo" I gave him a half amused half surprised look as Paul parked his truck in the Parking lot of the Zoo "Aren't we too old to go to the zoo?"

He gave me a horrified look, as if shocked by my words "Never. A person of any age can visit and enjoy the zoo, and, don't you think it is slightly judgmental with you being part animal?"

I rolled my eyes at him, jumping out of the truck and following him to the luckily not as long queue, before entering the zoo, with a map in my hands.

"Which exhibit do you want to see first?" Paul asked, coming close to me to see the map, making my heartbeat go nearly out of control from the intimacy that we were sharing, even if it was unintentional.

"Umm, Giraffe" I said, speaking of the first animal that had popped up in my mushy brain.

"Your wish is my command" he grinned, making me blush once again, before we walked towards the Giraffe exhibit.

We admired the still equally fascinating Giraffes before heading towards the Snow leopard, Monkey, Hippopotamus and Porcupine exhibits.

It honestly felt good to be a child again, excited to see animals.

We took ample of pictures, posing in front of glass, as the animals looked at us like we were another set of crazy tourists, like the thousands that had come before us.

"Where to next" Paul asked, staring into the map in his hand, once we were done with all the basic exhibits.

"Wolf" I grinned at him, giving him my best 'isn't it obvious' look.

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head, as we walked towards the literal wolf pack.

They were not as huge as I had expected them to be. Well obviously knowing that we as shape shifters were much bigger than them, but still they were admirable in their own way as they howled and barked, and stood on their mighty paws.

The strangest thing was though when all the wolves behind the glass, suddenly stopped what they were doing and came as close as possible to the glass, all of them simultaneously taking on a submissive posture, as they stared at us, or rather at me.

"Wow! What is that?" Paul asked, shock evident in his voice.

"They can probably sense the Alpha in me. They can feel the power and are bowing down to it." I guessed.

"Wow" he said in amusement "I need to take a photo of this. After all it is not every day that you see something this astonishing yet equally absurd."

He quickly took a picture of all the wolves simultaneously in their submissive posture, before glancing at it for a few minutes in amusement and disbelief.

I just shook my head and smiled at his childlike enthusiasm.

We soon made our way to the souvenir shop once we were done fulfilling our fantasy of being children for the day, and bought a few plush toys, playfully teasing one another and laughing with no care of the world around. While Paul bought me a lion from the shop, with the explanation of how I was the king of the Jungle being the alpha of my pack and held the power of leadership, I bought him an Elephant plush toy in return. The Elephant was said to be a symbol of good luck in certain cultures, and so I felt it appropriate.

We were about to exit the shop when suddenly Paul stopped, telling me to wait outside while he just needed a minute to buy something that he had forgotten. I nodded my head as I walked outside the door.

"This is for you." said Paul coming to where I was standing, a few minutes later, handing me a miniature wolf toy, which coincidentally had the same fur as mine- White.

"How did you know?" I asked, curiously, trying to find out of how he knew of my fur color. Had Sam told him?

He shrugged "Don't you remember, you had come in front of me in the woods, and quite possessively I must say, had refused to let me leave your sight." He laughed.

I blushed, cursing myself for being so quick to blush "That was the night I imprinted on you."

"Yeah?" he whispered "What was it like?"

We started walking back to the truck as I thought of how to answer that question.

"It was….. surreal" I said, slowly, thinking of the right word to explain what I had felt when I had imprinted, all those months back. "It is difficult to explain. The world around you just stops for that one minute, making you focus your entire attention on the person in front of you, and then when that metaphorical clock that has stopped for that brief minute starts working again, you realize that the world you once knew is no longer the same." I blushed, looking at the ground "I know it sounds corny but….."

"No" he interrupted me "It sounds magical, almost as if something like this… this connection is out of this world, like how could something this permanent exist in a world where feelings and relationships change every day."

I nodded my head "I know. That is probably why it is said to be a gift for the shape shifter."

He made an 'hmm' like sound, nodding his head, as we sat in the truck and he once again started driving.

"IHOP?" he turned to look at me.

I nodded my head, as he drove to the nearby IHOP in silence. The silence between us though, was comfortable instead of awkward.

We quickly sat into our seats after entering the famous chain of diners, before ordering a plate of Bacon and eggs for me and a stack of pancakes for Paul.

"So, tell me something?" started Paul, taking a bite of his pancakes "I used to feel this pull, even before I moved to La Push, which only intensified once I moved here and…."

"Yeah" I nodded my head in agreement, not as surprised as I should have been, considering I too had felt a similar pull "That was the power of the imprint. I too could feel a pull to you."

"But it has lessened since then?" he gave me a confused look.

I nodded my head "Probably because we see each other so often now that the pull has become tolerable."

He nodded his head as he went back to eating his breakfast.

"I guess that I am also going to be phasing soon." He said, after a few minutes of comfortable silence. His tone was one of acceptance instead of being questioning or accusing.

I sighed, deciding to be honest about this. There was no point in beating around the bush when he already knew and possibly had accepted the possibility of it.

"You will" I stated, calmly "I don't know if I should say sorry or not, but as my wolf has imprinted on you, or rather your wolf, your dormant lying wolf which exists in you because of having that particular wolf gene will be forced to come out. There will always be the possibility that it would have come out either way, but this just makes it more permanent."

He shook his head lightly "No reason for you to say sorry. What is meant to happen will happen, and it is not like I have any regrets."

"You don't?" I whispered, hoping and praying to whoever was listening onto my prayers that I had heard correctly and Paul meant what he had just said.

He gave me a small smile that made my insides melt from the happiness that it held "No" "You?"

I could hear the worry in his voice, and I instantly shook my head, knowing that my answer was one I didn't have to think about "No, no regrets."

His face broke into a huge smile as his eyes met mine, and I too reciprocated the same smile as his, an unknown burden lifted from my mind and heart.

No other words needed to be spoken, the both of us sat in perfect silence gazing at the other, relief and happiness permeating the air.

Once we were done with breakfast we once again sat in the truck to leave for wherever we were supposed to go next.

"Are we driving back to La Push?" I asked, a few minutes into the drive. It was not late by any means, but we would have a long drive in front of us to reach back.

He shook his head, not divulging anything more than that.

I nodded my head, turning to once again look back outside the window, knowing that I would not be getting any answer from him that would ruin his surprise.

We played a quick game of I spy to pass the time and soon we were parking in front of another familiar place that I recognized.

"A bowling alley" I raised my eyebrow in surprise. This was the same bowling alley where I had celebrated my twelfth birthday, in a carefully planned surprise by my family.

"Wait," I took a minute to correctly frame my thoughts, a doubt forming at the back of my mind "First beach, the zoo, now this bowling alley…. these are all the places that we….."

"That we visited together." he finished my unspoken sentence.

"Wow" I whispered in surprise, not knowing how to react to this information.

"Bella," he turned to look at me and put his hand ahead, silently asking my permission to take my hand in his, which I readily granted. He squeezed my hand, both of us well aware of the sparks our intertwined hands were causing in our bodies "We have shared a lot over the years, some good memories, some not as good, for our first date I thought that maybe we could start by revisiting the good and important parts of our shared past. I know that I could have planned something different, something that would form new memories and I thought a lot about it, but….."

I interrupted him, shaking my head "It is perfect. We are adding new memories to the old ones." "Now, let's go in." I pointed towards the building that held the bowling alley, an excited smile set firmly on my face."

He nodded his head, taking my hand in his as soon as we left the truck, and we walked hand in hand, adding new memories to our once formed old ones.

The bowling alley was pretty much the same, despite of the years that has passed by since we last visited, and we quickly got ourselves involved in a round of bowling, taking our turns in throwing the ball in the narrow bowling lane, trying to hit the bowling pins, while we shouted and cheered in the spirit of the game.

Very soon though, it was time to leave and grabbing burgers to eat on the way, the both of us left the bowling alley. I was exhausted for sure, but to be honest, this had possibly been the best day of my life till date.

I had known Paul as a person all these years. He was caring and genuine, maybe slightly corky with that smirk of his, but with a good heart. I had known Paul as a friend all these years. Yes, he had made mistakes, but who didn't make those, and now, I had got to witness Paul as more than a friend, the side of his which held my hand and squeezed it tightly while we walked together or looked at me with hunger filled eyes, and I didn't know how I had been able to live without this…. without him in my life before.

I wanted to give a name to whatever we shared between us. Yes, I was the imprinter and he was the imprint, but it was not enough. I needed that tag of boyfriend and girlfriend that society had formed, but I didn't know how to raise the topic. What if Paul was not ready to give it a name? It seemed like a simple enough question but still I was scared to pick it up. What if it ruined all the progress that we had made today?

"Hey, you okay?" asked Paul, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded my head, giving him a small comfort filled smile, before leaning back on the window and closing my eyes. We would have to talk about it later, but for now, I wanted to enjoy today, with no worries of tomorrow.

"Wake up" whispered a voice close to my ear, jerking me up from my sleep. I had not even realized when I had fallen asleep.

"Where are we?" I asked, rubbing my eyes, still not completely out of my sleep, as Paul once again settled in his seat.

"The tide pools."

"Oh" I whispered "Let me guess- another place that we once visited." I playfully asked.

He gave me a smirk "Yup, the day we had gone fishing with the oldies and decided to sneak out. I had just found these tide pools a few weeks back."

"Wow" I whispered, surprised "I wish I could remember it."

"Well I do" he said as we got out of the truck "But if you want, I can tell you what we did that day."

I nodded my head eagerly, as he took my hand in his and started walking towards the tide pools.

"Billy, Harry and Quil the fourth had taken us fishing but you were bored out of your mind, and so when I offered a way to sneak out without being caught, you had readily agreed. We had walked the long way here with you groaning and grunting….."

"Hey!" I interrupted him, pouting on the 'groaning and grunting' in his sentence, but he just shrugged, as if telling me that the truth is the truth.

"And then," he continued "When we had finally reached here, you had been fascinated with the this same marine life." he said pointing the tide pool we were now standing in front of as I kneeled down to get a closer look at them.

"They are beautiful." I whispered, admiring their beauty. Even though I had seen them many times over the years, every time still felt like the first.

"That is a sea anemone." said Paul, pointing in the pool "And that is a Periwinkle, and you obviously know the starfishes and crabs…. And oh, those are the mussels."

"How do you know so much about marine life?" I asked as we sat on a piece of driftwood overlooking the beach, once we were done seeing the tide pools.

He shrugged "Good memory, maybe."

I nodded my head as we both sat holding hands, the gesture so normal and calming, that neither of us even realized that we had been doing it, as we looked ahead at the setting sun that was just turning into a pale orange.

"Thank you for today. I loved it." I said, after a while of perfect content silence. The moonlight was upon us, and very soon I would have to go back home, back to normal life and monotonous routine.

He smiled, turning to look at me, before leaning ahead, the air between us thick with anticipation and need. My eyes kept drifting to his perfect lips and I licked my lips in need, a gesture which made a groan leave his mouth.

"I can't wait any longer." He said, once again staring at my lips "I have wanted to do this since days."

"Don't. I want this as much as you."

The last word had hardly left my mouth when his soft lips were meeting mine in a mixture of want, need and lust. I wrapped my hands in his hair as he pulled me closer to him, almost as if the distance was just not bearable any longer. His tongue ran over my top lip, begging for entrance, which was readily granted as I parted my lips, letting his sweet taste possess me. His hands on my hips grew tighter as we let ourselves lose in the pleasure of being with the other.

When finally the need for air became a necessity we pulled back, a huge smile on both of our faces.

"Can I see you again?" he asked.

"I would really really like that." I said with a blush, as I leaned forward again, almost as if I could not bear to not be connected to him any longer. He smiled before meeting me half way, his eyes telling me that he felt the same.

The light of the moon falling over the ocean stood a witness to the beginning of our story, the first page of the first chapter of our forever now ready to be written.