A/N: A few mature themes in this chapter. Mentioning of physical and emotional abuse, but nothing too descriptive. If this is something that you wish to skip, please skip past the flashback at the beginning of the chapter :)

Lucy is six at the beginning of the flashbacks and Paul and Veronica are 8

Ten years ago

I was wearing a long, princess dress that went down to the floor and I had to stop myself from tripping when I ran down the stairs and into the living room where my older brother Paul was sitting next to the TV with a big blue crayon in his hand. He had a coloring book on the floor next to him that was only half colored in and then thrown carelessly onto the floor. He was drawing on the wall behind the TV, a bunch of stick figures. "Lucy, look!" He exclaims happily, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the wall. "I drew us! Look that's Mom and Dad, Veronica and me and then you right at the end because you're the littlest."

Daddy was at work, Mommy was in the kitchen making dinner and Veronica was in her room, so no one had seen him start to draw on the wall. I gasped. "Paul! You're not supposed to make scribbles on the wall!"

He frowned. "I got bored and I wanted to draw my own pictures. Don't you think mom and dad will like it?"

I shook my head frantically and started whispering. "What if Daddy yells at you?" I tremble. I spilled my eggs on the floor yesterday at breakfast and Daddy got so mad at me and made me cry. Daddy was scary sometimes. I didn't like it when he yelled at mommy or when he grabbed her on the arm and made her looked scared, and I didn't like it when he yelled at me either or spanked me. I loved Paul with all my heart and I didn't want him to be as scared of Daddy as I was.

Paul freezes, his crayon coming off of the wall and onto the floor. "Do you think he'll be really, really mad?" He whispers.

"I dunno."

"I'm going to tell Mom and maybe she'll help me clean it." He says, rushing to stand up. "Mom!" He calls, disappearing into the long hallway that leads to the kitchen.

I rush towards the wall, going to pick up the crayons and coloring book to put away, when the door flies open. My dad comes in, and he already looks unhappy. My stomach starts to feel sick like when you get the flu, and my heart is racing really fast, like on my first day of school. Daddy puts his stuff on the floor and turns to look at me, looks at the crayons in my hand and when his eyes go to the wall, they get really hard and angry. "Hi Daddy." I whisper.

He walks over to me and grabs the crayon out of my hand, throwing it on the ground so hard that it breaks in half. My lower lip quivers. "Do we color on the wall?" He asks, teeth grinding together.

"No…" I say quietly. "But…" He turns me over so fast that I start to cry out of surprise and when he goes to pull his hand back I cry out, "It wasn't me!" I sob. "I didn't do it!"

He stops and turns me around to look at my face. "You didn't do it?" He asks. "Then who did?" I whimper again. I don't want to get spanked, but I don't want Paul to get in trouble. But my eyes automatically shift over to where my mom and Paul are standing in the doorway. Paul is half hidden behind my mom's legs and my dad follows my gaze and then lets me go. "Come here boy." He says roughly, beckoning to Paul with his hand.

"Dasan, please." Mommy begs quietly, her eyes pleading. "It will wash off."

His eyes meet hers and she freezes as his hand comes down on my shoulder and he shoves me forward towards her. I stumble and she grabs me with her hand and pulls me into her body. "Go upstairs, both of you. I want to have a talk with Paul." He snaps.

My mom tries to plead with him again. "Dasan…"

"Now!" He roars, face turning red. My brother makes a choking noise as he steps around my mom's legs to meet my father in the living room. My mom scoops me into her arms and takes me up the stairs into Veronica's room and we find her peeking out the door, lower lip trembling for her twin brother. My mom shuts the door tightly and takes us both into her arms, wrapping us tightly and murmuring to us over and over again, trying to block out the sounds downstairs. I can hear Paul crying and I shudder into my mom's chest and close my eyes…

The next morning I wake up for school and come downstairs to have breakfast. Daddy has already left, Mommy is making eggs and toast and Veronica is sitting at the table. I sit down next to her quietly and wait. Paul comes downstairs a minute later, head cast down. "Paul?" I whisper, my voice unsteady. He doesn't say anything, but he looks up slightly. I can see the slight darkening of bruise around his eye and there's a big bruise that looks like a giant handprint wrapped around his arm. He sees me looking and pulls a sweater on to cover it up and Mom brings him over a hat. She puts it on his head with tears falling quietly down her face, and whispers something to him before wrapping him up tightly. She looks like she's never going to let go, until the toast pops up and she jumps. Wiping the back of her sleeve across her face, she straights and puts a big smile on her face.

"Breakfast is ready!" She exclaims cheerily and hands our plates to us.

We all look down at our food. I notice that all of us, including Mom, don't each much, choosing to shuffle around food and pretend to put pieces in our mouths until it's time to leave. No one says a word. We get in the car quietly and when we pull up to the school, my mom turns to face Paul. "Do you remember what you are going to tell your teacher today, Paul?" She says.

He looks up slightly, but not enough to make eye contact. "We were playing baseball as a family and I got hit in the face with the ball." He whispers.

She nods and smiles. "Okay Paul, Veronica, I will be here to pick you up after school. I love you guys." Neither of them says anything as they slide out of the car and my mom drives over to where my class is lining up.

Before I get out of the car, I unbuckle my seatbelt. "Mommy?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"How come Daddy doesn't love us like you do?" I ask sadly.

She whips her head back to look at me for a split second and then she buries her face into her arms and starts crying loudly. Halfway through, she reaches out for me, pulls me across the middle and into the front and holds me in her lap while she sobs. I can feel my own wet tears on my face. Finally she looks up and dries both of our tears. "I don't know, baby. I don't know."

Five years ago

I felt like I was six years old again when I grabbed my blanket dragging it down the hall and went to knock on Paul's bedroom door. He opens it and has a curious look on his face, clearly wondering what I'm doing there. I raise my eyebrows because there is no way he can't hear the yelling going on downstairs. But then I look up and realize he's wearing headphones and carrying an MP3 player, so he definitely can't hear anything. I give him a half smile, half grimace and shrug. "Dad's yelling again." I mutter, sliding past him and curling up on his bed. I wrap the blanket around my shoulders and lean against the wall as he comes to sit next to me.

He's left the door open a crack and taken his headphones off and tossed them on the floor. I know he's listening to the commotion downstairs, making sure that he can hear when my dad has decided he's had enough of the yelling and resorts to violence. Paul is always throwing himself between my dad and us, like it's his job to protect us from getting hurt. Maybe that's why I always find myself coming into his bedroom whenever my dad starts to get mad. It's the safest place in the world to me. "Do you know what they're fighting about?" He asks.

I take the blanket off and slowly start to lift up the back of my shirt, to show Paul the bruises beginning to form on my back. "He threw me against the wall last night when he got upset. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to get hurt too." I whisper pitifully. I knew if I had gone crying to Paul, he would have went downstairs and confronted my dad and gotten hurt. So I had climbed into Veronica's bed last night instead. He doesn't say anything, but I watch his hands ball into fists for a minute as he trembles, and then finally he takes a long breath.

"Are you okay?" He asks me through clenched teeth.

I shrug. "I've had worse." He flinches slightly but doesn't say anything. We both have and he knows it. He doesn't try to talk again, but he puts his arm around me and I lean into his chest and close my eyes as he pets my hair. It doesn't take long for Veronica to come in and sit on my other side. Veronica is the complete opposite of Paul and I. She's quiet, which means Dad doesn't have much reason to get upset at her. I know she tries to act tough and keep to herself like it doesn't bother her, but there are times where it gets to her and she ends up in Paul's room just like I do. Today is one of those nights. She reaches and grabs my hand, knowing what the commotion is about so she doesn't need to ask.

We lay there together quietly until we hear the front door slam. That's usually the sign that my dad has left and the fight is over for now, and that Mom will be coming upstairs to comfort us soon. So we all perk up slightly and wait for the shadow of her body to appear at the door. But it never comes. And then I hear some slamming around from down the hall. Paul lets go of me and gets up. "Wait here." He orders. But I don't listen and neither does Veronica.

"I'm coming with you." I demand. I refuse to let Paul walk into unfamiliar territory and Veronica nods her agreement. So he just rolls his eyes and continues in front of us as we follow him down the hall quietly. We reach our parents' bedroom, where the door is slightly ajar and the noise gets louder. Paul pushes the door open all the way to reveal our mother, with a large red mark across her cheek, emptying out one of the dressers and tossing everything into a large suitcase. At first, I think that she's leaving us and I almost throw up. But then I look closer, and I realize it's all of my father's things. "Mom?" I whisper.

She stops to look at us and under the usual mess of tears and anger, there's something else, a glimmer of something. Hope? She sniffles, wipes her face and takes a step towards us, somehow wrapping all three of us in a hug at the same time. "It's okay, my babies. It's all going to be okay now." She crooned.

"What's going on?" Paul asks.

"It's over." My mom breathes. "He's gone. For good." And then she turns and continues shoving everything into the suitcase, zips it up and starts to head downstairs. I stare after her for a minute before I follow her, both my siblings behind me. She opens the front door and with one giant swing of her arms, hurls the suitcase out onto the front lawn, slams the door and locks it. We stand there and stare in silence as she leans her back against the door, panting slightly out of breath. Waiting for the breakdown, waiting for her to run out the door and grab the suitcase and bring it back inside. But it doesn't come. She straightens up, walks into the kitchen and pulls out our phonebook from the drawer and starts flipping through it. She begins speaking on the phone and I realize she's calling a locksmith. She's changing the locks.

He's really gone.

Present

"Dad?" My voice trembles. He's looking into my eyes. His eyes are exactly the same as Paul's, except I don't feel comforted when I look into them. I feel scared, like I'm a little girl again. Embry is frozen by my side, looking back and forth between both of us. And then I realize that he doesn't know. Paul and I had gotten so good at blocking out our unpleasant thoughts about our childhood that it had never entered our minds since joining the pack. At least since I had joined anyway, but I had never heard anyone else thinking about it or giving us pity looks or thoughts, so I'm going to assume it had never come up. But even if he doesn't know, Embry can read me better than anyone. And he can tell right now that I'm absolutely terrified.

My dad starts to take a step forward towards me and Embry automatically steps in front of me. "Stay back." He says in a hard voice. I peer around his arm.

"I want to talk to my daughter, thank you very much." My dad says back to him, standing as tall as he can manage. Even so, Embry still has a good 6 inches on him, as my dad doesn't even break six feet. My head is spinning as I watch their exchange, still feeling like I'm in a dream or an alternate reality. And then finally they break their eye contact, because someone else has joined us.

Paul. He looks confused at first, and his emotions quickly go from shock, to anger, to pure hatred. I see him shudder and I can imagine the red heat that's going down his spine right now. "You need to leave!" He snarls, baring his teeth. My dad takes a large step back, looking startled, but Paul follows him. He's starting to get too close and I can just see the invisible to the human eye shimmer around his body that indicates he's close to phasing.

I start to panic. I know Paul hates our dad, and I hate him too. But if he kills him, he will never be able to forget it. And I can't let Paul live his life as a murderer. I grasp Embry's arm urgently. "Embry, please." I whisper, begging him. "Get him out of here. Before he kills him." I have no doubt in my mind that is what will happen if Paul is not taken out of the picture.

Embry hesitates for one second and then nods sharply, coming up behind Paul and grabbing him by locking his arms around his chest and dragging him into the forest. I can hear Paul yelling profanities as he gets pulled away and I pray that he makes it to the forest before phasing so that he doesn't hurt Embry. I know he'll heal if it happens but I would rather avoid it to begin with. Finally, they've disappeared and I can hear the howling of a tormented wolf, and I know he's safe. I slowly turn back to my father, trying to will myself to use the attitude that I have picked up on after years of wrestling with my inner demons. "What are you doing here?" I try to sound indignant, but it doesn't work. I just sound pitiful. Like I'm a child again.

"I knocked, but it's still early so no one answered. I was waiting until it was a bit later to try again." He says, as if I'm wondering why he's sitting on my front porch.

"No, I mean why are you in La Push?"

He stares at me for a minute. "I wanted to give you this." And then he pulls something out of his jacket pocket and hands it to me. My hands are trembling as I try to grasp it, and I can't tell if it's because I'm about to phase, or if it's because I'm still scared. I glance at the stiff envelope in my hand and open it. It's a wedding invitation. I stare at it for a long time and I don't say anything. "I'm getting married." He finally says after he receives no reaction from me. "And I'd really like you, Paul and Veronica to be there."

I swallow thickly. "Why should we?" I finally whisper, hoarsely. I'm fighting with the lump in my throat.

"Because you're my children, and I love you and I want you to be there. It's an important day for me." He says.

My infamous temper and werewolf anger is slowly starting to overtake my fear. "So what?" I snap. "Where were you when I started high school? And where were you on my sixteenth birthday? Where were you every single day for these last five years?"

"I wanted to stay, Lucy, but your mother-"

I cut him off. "My mother is the only reason that I survived my horrible childhood. She is the only parent that I have. The only parent that gave me love, affection and made me feel safe. She kicked you out because you were not a parent!" The tears are flowing freely. I never let myself cry about my father. "You were supposed to love us unconditionally! You were supposed to protect us! We were supposed to come to you when we were scared, not run away from you in fear! You hurt me! Physically and emotionally, I have scars that won't go away. And now you show up, like nothing ever happened!" I can't believe this is happening. I am screaming at my dad where the entire neighborhood can hear, bawling my eyes out. And then it hits me that Paul is out there right now and that Embry has probably phased with him to calm him down. And there's a good chance I can bet what Paul is thinking about right now. Which means Embry is going to know everything.

He holds up his hands almost in surrender. "I know that I was a lousy dad back then, but I've changed. I've been seeing a therapist, and I want to fix things between us."

I shake my head back and forth and I go to say something, when the porch light comes on, and someone opens the door. It's my mom. And by the look on her face, there's a good chance that she's been listening to our conversation. "Lucy." She beckons me and I rush into her arms just like I used to as a child. "Dasan, I don't know why you're here. But you need to leave."

"Winona please…" He starts, but she cuts him off.

"You've hurt my children enough." She says in a hard voice. It doesn't escape my notice that she said my children. "Now leave!" And she pulls me inside and slams the door. My legs give out and I fall to the floor sobbing and she soon follows me, wrapping me up tightly and shushing me. "I'm so sorry baby, I'm so sorry I let him in our lives as long as I did. I will never forgive myself for that. I am so sorry." She repeats over and over again. I want to tell her that it's not her fault, but I can't talk, so I continue to blubber.

Finally, I pull myself together and lift myself off the floor and my mom does the same. I dry my eyes and pull the curtain back. There's no sign of anyone outside. I take a deep breath. "I need to go find Paul." I tell my mom. "He was going to kill him, Mom. And I almost let him for a second, before I realized that I refuse to let Paul be a monster like Dad. I could never forgive myself if I had let Paul fall into that abyss. Embry pulled him into the forest before he could phase." It's weird talking to my mom outright about werewolf things. She seems slightly uncomfortable, but she keeps a straight face and nods along with me.

"You did the right thing. Go find your brother and bring him home please. I want to hug him too." She says and I nod and rush out the door. I don't bother taking off my clothes as I let my lingering anger overtake my body and the pieces fly over the grass and into the trees as I land on my paws and shoot off into the forest.

Paul? I call to him.

Lucy. It's not Paul or Embry. It's Sam. He's at Emily's. Both of them are. Go and find them. Jared, Quil and I are going to cover all of your shifts today. I flinch slightly as I hear the pity in his voice and I know that the information has probably been passed around the entire pack already. I'm sorry.

It's okay. I tell him. And I let the confrontation with my father play out for him. Without meaning to, I also accidentally slip in a few minutes of my utter breakdown in my mom's arms, but he graciously ignores it.

I'm proud of you, Lucy. How you were able to control your temper and phasing when confronted with your emotions like that.

It's funny because I thought when I saw him for the first time again that I was going to be furious. Especially once I became a werewolf. But after I got over my initial feeling of being scared of him like I was as a child, and then of course the inevitable anger that I did have because we all know I'm bound to get angry, I just felt sad. And it's true, I was sad. I was sad that he never was able to love me or Paul or Veronica. I was sad that he couldn't control his anger and once he told me that he had changed, I was sad that he couldn't do that for us. I finish telling Sam this.

Sam's thoughts flood to the surface. They are thoughts of his own father, who left his family when he was very young also. I know what you mean. Go find Paul. I think he needs you right now. And then he leans down and gently, with his teeth, pulls the black t-shirt off of his leg and tosses it towards me. I saw your clothes go flying when you phased and I figured you didn't want to walk into Emily's naked. Now go. Jared and Quil will be joining me soon.

Thank you Sam. I take off like a shot towards Emily's place, and after a couple minutes, manage to phase back relatively quickly after thinking about how I needed to talk to Paul. I toss on the long shirt that thankfully goes down past my knees and race up the steps. Paul is sitting on the couch with his head in his hands and when I come in, his head flies up and he's on his feet and charging towards me.

His large arms crush me so quickly that I'm unable to get my own arms out, so I just stand there while he hugs me and when he finally lets go, I hug him back. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" He asks, giving me a once over.

I smile slightly. "Like he could hurt me anymore." Paul doesn't laugh and I sigh. "No, he didn't hurt me. I just yelled at him for a little bit before Mom came out and told him to get lost." I shrug. "When I came out to find you, he was gone. I don't know where he went and I don't care. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I wish you would have let me confront the bastard." He snarls.

"I love you too much to do that to you Paul. I could never let you have something like that on your conscience." I touch his arm. "Do you want to know why he was there?"

He looks me in the eyes and gives me his honest answer. "No. I don't think I can handle that right now. Maybe later."

I nod. I can understand and accept that. "Well, can you at least go home and see Mom please? She's worried about you and she told me that she wants to hug you. Sam has our shifts covered for today so just go see her okay?" I have a slight beg in my voice because I know she really needs this. They both do.

"Okay. I'll see you at home later." He kisses the top of my head and takes off out the door. I finally turn towards to room and am suddenly thankful that it's just Emily and Embry, because I can feel my breakdown coming.

Emily gives me a long, sad look like she wants to comfort me, but she knows that I don't need her right now, so she mumbles an excuse about needing something from the store and she steps out the front door. I only have a second to feel guilty that I basically just kicked Emily out of her own house before Embry has me in his arms, and for the second time today, I break down.

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't let me go. And I don't want him to.

A/N: Hi! Just a couple notes 1) Just wanted to say that I am so thankful to the few people who took the time to stop and answer my author's note that I posted! Even just having a few of you express your interest in the story was an amazing feeling. And of course, I've found my rhythm for this story again and it feels great. This is one of my favourite chapters that I've written for the story so far so it would mean the world to me if you guys reviewed and let me know how it is to you guys!

2) I'll be going through the story and updating the old chapters. Just fixing a few spelling mistakes or little parts of the story that I want to tweak. Nothing major will be changed :)

3) The story isn't exactly cannon to the twilight verse especially because it was written before the illustrated guide came out. Paul is older than Lucy, which means he's older than Jake/Quil/Embry even though the books have them about the same age. As well, Paul lives with his divorced dad in the books but here obviously he's got a big family. I think those are the only really big things that are different. Thank you again and I hope you like this chapter and the glimpse into Paul and Lucy's childhood!