A.N: Happy holidays!

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas day, regardless of whether you celebrate it or not. My mum's partner celebrates and I got a gorgeous Viking style chess set from them. It's already been used and I'm trying to learn some new openings/more detailed rules about chess. It's so much fun!

FIFTEEN

and thirst.

He wasn't sure that the day could get much more agitating; the extension he and his men were working on had to be delayed because someone had ordered the wrong timber. That was going to cost them another good few days and ultimately the Hoquaht would be unhappy, and knowing the residents of Forks, it was highly likely they would try and cut the pay if they fell too far behind. And Sam couldn't afford that right now.

On top of that, it seemed like Embry was starting to show signs of shifting and so Sam had to keep eyes on him as well as wondering what kept happening with people in Seattle disappearing. He really hoped that wasn't vampire activity but he wouldn't hold his breath. Why else would Embry be showing signs?

Sam sighed and kicked a rock that was beside his foot. It flew through the air and landed too far for him to see.

At least Leah had gone back to Washington. She'd left a couple of weeks ago and she hadn't been happy about what he'd had to say - she'd made that abundantly clear - but at least she wasn't in La Push. For whatever reason, he knew that if she had stayed that something bad would've happened to her. And maybe he was being paranoid but he'd learn to trust his gut more and moreover the last year and a half.

Sometimes he wondered if there was some sort of barrier that was lost when he Phased because there were times he'd run on purely animal instinct. It scared him - Sam hated not knowing things.

Especially when it was something that may be affecting his Pack.

But no one had said anything. No one had thought it either - and it was far too difficult to hide your thoughts when you were on shift with someone else. In fact, it was almost impossible. He'd tried.

So if none of the others were experiencing anything then was there just something wrong with him?

Sam sighed again. He was going to need to talk to the Elders about it and see if he could request the journals.

He scoffed and kicked another stone. This one hit a tree and bounced backwards, falling into a patch of grass that was growing around the area. Those journals were nothing but glorified wives tales handed down through the generations. He wouldn't have been surprised if they were literal wives tales either.

But he pushed aside the bitterness that those thoughts had brought him. It was all the information they had, and it wasn't like they could really do any tests on the Pack either. Not unless they wanted the secret of La Push getting out everywhere - and somehow he figured the Leeches not knowing that there was an enemy built for the sole purpose of killing them was a strategic advantage.

Sam pulled out his phone. It was old and beat up. Half the time it would drop calls but it did the trick the other half so there wasn't much point - and nor did he have the money - in replacing it.

Scrolling through his contact list he sent a message to Jared letting him know that he was gonna be a little late to movie night. When he was sure the message had gone through, Sam got back in his truck and made his way to the Tribunal.

When he got there, he let his eyes roam over the freely old building for a few moments.

It was worn; a mismatch of old and newer parts where water damage from a constant barrage of rain had made the roof collapse. The building was painted with an off white at some point, but over the years it had turned grey, and there were brown streaks closest to the foundation where people leaned against it, resting their foot against the wall.

It surprised him that the windows were never broken. La Push had enough problems with drugs for there not to be damage to a more communal area, but somehow even those on the reservation that were off of their heads on drugs were marginally respectful enough to not try and loot the place.

And it wasn't like there was anything in there to sell off in the first place.

Sam pushed past the trepidation he felt and prayed to whatever gods there were that the Tribunal would house some of the less annoying Elders. He could tolerate Billy and Quil Sr, even though both the men could be grouchy bastards who held the legends above everything.

But as he got closer his nose picked up the dull charcoal smell of his grandfather.

Sam cursed and all but turned around on the spot. He didn't ever want to deal with the man. But after the day he had, it would be even harder to tolerate the lofty stares and the angry muttering that Sam could hear despite the lowness of volume and pitch.

But then Levi Uley opened the door to the Tribunal and walked out of the building and Sam knew he couldn't turn tail and run. Not now when it was clear that he would be running away.

The thought roiled in his stomach and there was an edge of something that called him into action in his mind.

Without meaning to, Sam took a heavy step forward. And another. And another.

Sam watched Levi's face as he approached the old man. The man didn't flinch. He didn't do very much at all, actually. He just looked at Sam coolly, though Sam had to wonder just how much of it was an act because he could hear the quick beating heart underneath the heavy coat.

"Sam." The name reached him in the air before Sam reached the man but he continued talking nonetheless. "What did you need?"

"I don't know that it's any of your business," Sam said.

He moved past the man and walked in through the still-open door. He didn't expect it to close behind him but he was momentarily surprised by how quickly Levi managed to get himself up the steps and through the door after Sam.

"If it's to do with the Pack then as an Elder, I will need to know."

Sam clamped his teeth shut and began clenching them. It irked him more than he could put into words how much the man could stake claim to Pack information when he was not the one that had to live through the transformation of boys too young into animal protectors. Glorified guard dogs. "I must be in luck then. It's not to do with the Pack."

He felt no guilt for the lie.

"Is it about the newcomer?"

"No."

Levi hummed. Sam did not like it.

"We have been researching the Imprint bond. So far we've not come across anything that can explain your...attachment to her." Levi walked around Sam to a locked bookshelf that held the leatherbound journals of their ancestors.

Every time Sam saw them he wondered why they were so easily accessible to anyone who wanted them. A sheet of worn, decorated wood and a flimsy lock. They were not going to keep back anyone who wanted them.

But then, he reminded himself, who wanted the fairy tales you were put to bed with or told around a bonfire?

"You've been spending more time with her, I hear." At Sam's piercing look Levi gave him a tight smile. "Gossip spreads like wildfire."

That did not bode well for Sam. If they were looking into what was going on between him and Naima and they had found nothing...well what was he going to find? He did not like his grandfather, but the man had been one of the first on the Reservation to be accepted into a college on scholarship. He'd graduated with honours in a time where nobody wanted him to succeed at all.

If he hadn't found anything referencing whatever it was then there was probably nothing in the journals.

And worse yet, it seemed like the Elders were keeping a closer eye on Naima. And he knew what the Quileute people could do to outsiders. Jared had experienced it enough when his mom had come needing a place to stay.

For all their reverence towards the old days, his tribe were still people. They could be cruel.

"She's become a friend to the Pack. Her and her sister." Sam hoped that was enough to ward off the old bastards. At the very least, it might put a damper on some of the spite that might have come their way.

"You haven't told them?" Levi asked steelily.

"Of course not. We're not stupid! But they are friends."

Levi hummed again and Sam liked it even less.

He didn't want to be there anymore but if he left now then he knew that it would look suspicious. "I suppose I'll just get the journal I need and leave you to your gossiping then."

"Stay," Levi said. "We've not spoken to each other for -"

"No," Sam cut off. "Don't think for a moment I've forgiven you."

"Forgiven me?" Levi growled out. "I'm not the one that needs to ask for forgiveness Samuel."

Sam laughed in response. Even to him, it sounded bitter and he didn't want to hear it again. "I'm leaving now," he said as he walked to the door. "You can bring the journals to me."

"Sam!"

He knew that the last comment would push up against his grandfather's pride and it felt good to ruffle him like that. But even still, when Levi had called his name there was a ring of authority that Sam felt the need to challenge. He had to tamper down the want to shift - to show this feeble thing just how insignificant and breakable he was in the grand scheme of things.

The shock of the emotion left him panting and he could sense Levi keeping very still behind him. That was good. He had sense.

It took a moment to bring himself back to neutral and when he did he answered. "What?"

"I think we should talk."

A bark of laughter escaped his throat and this Sam did not tamper down. So what if Levi thought he was crazy - half the time Sam thought he was just trapped in an incredibly lucid dream that he, ironically enough, had no control over.

"That's funny. You're funny, old man." It was nice that he hadn't lost his humor.

Levi seemed to be collecting himself from behind Sam. "I think -"

"I've heard a lot about what you think, and I don't agree with it. Nor do I care."

Sam heard the dull thud of a cane on the wooden floors. It echoed around the near-empty building almost asking Sam to follow the sound with his eyes as he heard it bounce off the walls. "I am still your Grandfather Samuel. You will show your elders some respect!"

"I don't think so," Sam growled. He turned in a measured movement to see the man behind him. Levi's face was tinted a redder hue than his natural color and Sam remembered seeing that face a handful of times. It was hardly ever directed at him, but the last time he'd seen it, it was directed at his mother. "I don't just hand out respect to people who do not deserve it."

"You think your mother was a saint! She wasn't."

"I'm leaving."

"She was sleeping with Harry!" Levi spat. "She whored herself out and Matthew couldn't take it anymore so he left."

Sam looked at Levi - really looked at him. This was what he had based his wrath on? This? He wanted to leave, to turn around and not listen to this man who thought he was better than a struggling woman and not give him an ounce more attention. But that was his mother.

"I know what she did," Sam said.

There was a moment, a pause that felt unnatural to the both of them before it was broken by Levi. "What?!" he choked out.

"I know what she did. I know that she slept with Harry Clearwater and I know she did it more than once. But what right does that give you to judge her when dad was out there doing the same to her every weekend?"

Levi bit his tongue, though the red tint was taking over his face more and more by the second. "You condone her actions?" he spat.

"No I don't. But that was my mother. And you took your misplaced anger out on her." Levi was about to speak, Sam could see it. But he was done with talking to this man. "How does that make you better than any wife-beater? You, who calls himself a man."

Sam turned around, not caring anymore. Not about this.

"You will organise for the journals to be brought to my house by the end of the week, Elder Uley."

A.N: So...that chapter felt a little bit clunky but I'm not sure how to fix it. I hope you guys liked the fictional family tension.