It was a dreary afternoon on a Monday. I had already eaten half a cup of chicken noodle soup, and put the rest in the fridge for dinner tonight. Billy was sitting across from me in his chair, looking a little on edge.

"Sorry I am eating Billy, I got backed up with paperwork." It wasn't a lie. Bella was embarrassed about taking medicine, so she had been hiding it from her dad and skipping doses. I took a half an hour this morning arguing with her to get her to take her medicine. Edward had to jump in, and only after threatening hospitalization, did she agree to do it. I was talking to Edward about how often she has to take it, when I realized it was three minutes past the time Billy's session started, and he was patiently waiting in my living room. "I have nothing to do until grief at four, so you have the floor, my good sir."

Billy laughed. He was quiet a minute, and I knew that he was thinking. I sat patiently and let him think, knowing he was just getting his thoughts in order.

"Nothing leaves this room," he finally asked.

"No. Unless someone is going to be harmed," I said. But knowing Billy, that was not the problem.

"I lied last week, when I said I was fine," he said.

"I know," I said. "That is why I wanted you to come back."

"I am lost," he said. "I have no clue what the hell I am doing. The main thing that I am worried about is my kids, Jacob, Rachel, and Becca. Well, Jacob is okay, apart from Bella being a vampire, you are working on that aren't you?"

"I am not a magician," I said.

"Okay right. Well, Becca and Rach haven't been home in a long time. I begged Rachel to come home, but she refuses because college is so important."

"What is she studying?"

"Business."

"What does she want to do with it?"

"I don't know. I am trying to get her to come back and be involved with the Reservation, but that is not going to happen."

"Why?"

"Becca and Rach said they wanted out of the house and off the land from when they were about twelve years old," he said bitterly.

"Why would they say that?"

"They did not want to be around memories of their mother."

"I see. Can you go see her?"

"That long car ride is hard on my legs. And the money."

So you're telling me that Jacob, Rachel, and Rebecca don't value your opinion at all?" I asked.

"They are respectful, but they do their own thing."

"Isn't that what you want? To raise independent children?"

"Independence I can live with, but this is… abandonment."

"Have you told them that?"

"Hey come home face all of your old memories and fears so your old man can have a semblance of relationship."

"Hmm. Can you call?"

" I miss seeing her face. She has her mother's eyes."

"Do you know what Skype is?"

"No."

"It's a website that uses the internet to allow you to use video and audio to talk to the person. It's free. Do you have a computer?"

"When Rachel and Rebecca started school, I got them a cheap Toshiba. Jacob uses it for his papers too."

"How fast is the internet?"

"About 800 kilobits."

"It should work."

"So they download it, and I download it. Then what?"

"Then you do a username, so you can find each other. Then you search for her username and call her. Then she picks up and you talk. You can even do a conference call where you, Jacob, Rachel, and Rebecca can all talk."

"That's fantastic. We could all have dinner together as a family."

"Yep. Now it might be buggy. You will have to be patient with it. The screen will freeze, or the audio will go in and out. But you can call them as much as you want. It's free."

Billy grinned, but then looked tired, and his face fell.

"What is on your mind?"

"I miss Sarah," he said.

My brow furrowed, and I cocked my head. "Of course you do," I said. Why wouldn't he miss her?

"It's not just with my kids, it's with the Pack. Sue is great, and Emily is wonderful as Pack mom's. But both of them are a little… docile. Sarah would be able to handle Leah's grief and Paul's temper. Then that time I was sure Sam was going to commit suicide, Harry, Old Quil, and I were at our wits end. We almost called the vampires. But Sarah, she could have just handled it."

"What do you think she would do?"

"She knew all about how to use art to express your emotions. She loved painting, but she knew how to draw, use watercolor, all different stuff. She would have gotten those kids to talk in some way and make them think they were just painting a sunset. She did it all the time. When Rebecca was little, I could not tell if she was upset unless she cried. But Sarah would sit her down with crayons, and get her to draw her feelings, and they would talk about it."

"Okay, Sarah would use her natural gifts and something she practiced art to create a safe environment where the kids could talk about their emotions and get support. So what are you good at?"

He threw his hands up in the air.

I growled. "Billy, I am not treating you for low self-esteem. What are you good at that you can share with the pack?"

"I am a natural born leader. Jacob is too, he just doesn't know it yet."

"Great. What do you do as part of your duties as a leader for the tribe every Friday night?"

"What? You mean tell stories?"

"You're a natural at it. Smooth voice, dynamic, captivating, engaging. Also, your stories have messages, either a strategy or encouragement or history. It means something to the pack. It meant something to me as a hybrid. The pack looks to you to tell them who they are, the older ones especially."

"Huh. I just feel like an old man in a wheelchair."

"The oldest werewolf is nineteen. Do you think they know what they are doing? You are a lot more than an old man in a wheelchair to a lot of people, old man."

"Who you calling old, you old bag?"

I gasped. "This body is sixteen years old," I said indignantly. "And the rest of me is as old as dirt."

We both laughed.