A.N: This is it. The final chapter. Thank you so much, everyone, who has come along on this journey. I hope that you've enjoyed it, that you've learnt something new, and that this has given you a little bit of understanding around a religion you may not have had a lot of exposure to. And I hope you enjoyed my take on the characters.

Please read the end notes to find out more about what I plan to do next.

THIRTY

To say 'I am.'

Their moment of peace was coming to an end. Sam could feel it in his very bones; once Bella Swan got married to the leech, something would happen.

He didn't know what would happen, but nothing good had ever come from the Cullen's trying to play human before, so Sam didn't expect anything different this time. At least...at least he was able to speak to Naima about it now.

She didn't like talking about wolfy things, but she listened when he needed her to. That made a world of difference to him. Somehow a weight was lifted off his chest, and even though she didn't like to talk about it, the fact that the option was there gave him some peace.

But there was still so much that he couldn't talk to her about because it wasn't her responsibility to bear. She had too much to deal with; Naima insisted on telling her dad about the two of them. And while he was proud of her, he didn't think she should tell him straight away. As much as he loved Naima, it was all still new. He didn't know if she really wanted to be with him and he'd give her all the space and time she needed to sort it out. He just wanted to be there with her while she did.

So no, he didn't think it was a good idea to tell Aaron. But it wasn't his decision to make. And he'd stand by her while she made it.

But there were other things happening now as well. And as much as Sam wished he didn't have to deal with it, there was still the matter of Jake. And Seth.

"Have you tried just talking to him?" Naima asked from her place on the sofa.

"What do you mean?"

She angled her body towards his so that she was looking directly at him. "Talking to him. You know, about how he's affecting everyone."

"He hears it all the time," Sam said.

Naima pulled a face like she was trying not to react to that. She pulled those faces when she didn't know how to start what she thought would be a tricky subject. It was usually about the Pack.

"He hears your thoughts when you're all wolves?"

"Yeah."

"But like...in a productive way or...in a complaining way?" she asked slowly.

Sam frowned. "I don't -"

"Like do you guys ever just notice his behaviour or his thoughts and just calmly say something like, 'that's not conducive', or 'it hurts my feelings?'"

Sam snorted. He wasn't sure either of those would bode over well in the Pack, and conducive wasn't a word they used often. He wasn't even sure if some of the guys knew what it meant.

"Not quite."

Naima took a small breath and then let it go. Then she took another quick intake. "I get it - feelings. Boys. It doesn't always mesh. But sometimes people are more likely to listen when you take the emotions out of something, just plainly state what's going on and how it's not working."

"What do you mean?"

She thought for a moment. "Alright, let's say you were doing something that pissed me off. Like...leaving food out on the counter or something. If I came at you annoyed, passive-aggressive and angry and said: 'You're always doing this and it's getting on my last nerve. Stop it!', I'm guessing you'd feel attacked?"

He shrugged.

"But if I came to you and went, 'it frustrates me when you leave food out because it can go off and I don't like wasting food. Could you make sure to put it in the fridge?' would you be more likely to listen?"

"I guess."

"Right!" she exclaimed. "Because it's not attacking you and it's just stating facts."

He saw her point, but he wasn't sure how he would do it. "It's not that easy. You can't really filter your thoughts in wolf form."

"Do you have to have that conversation when you're wolves?"

"Yes." He didn't really want to have the conversation at all, but if he had to do it as a human - where he would fumble over his words and the other person couldn't feel the intention behind them coming through then he would definitely fuck it up.

"Alright then, she said, but she didn't sound convinced. Naima left it at that and went back to reading a book, periodically making notes in it - for whatever reason she did that.

About a week had passed before he decided to do anything about it. He really didn't want to have the conversation, but it didn't stop the nagging voice that sounded a lot like Naima. So he called up Jared, asked him if he wanted to hang out over a beer and waited.

It had been so long since he'd just hung out with Jared that Sam figured he could make a day of it, and when Jared agreed, he was surprised by how happy he felt.

"How have you been?" Jared asked, once he was inside and they'd both cracked open a bottle of beer.

It had also been a little while since he'd drunk beer. He didn't drink it much around Naima because he felt self-conscious about it. She never said anything about him drinking, in fact she insisted she didn't care. But he'd never really been around someone who didn't drink, so he felt awkward doing it in front of her.

"I'm good, man," Sam said.

"I heard you and Naima are trying it out," Jared said.

Sam couldn't stop the grin that spread across his mouth. It still felt a little odd sometimes. He'd spent the last few months having to stop himself from hugging her too long, kissing her cheek or her lips. Lying next to her on the couch. And now that he could do all those things it was like he didn't know what to do with himself.

Naima was incredibly cute about it; she teased him and told him that he was more restrained than when they weren't seeing each other, but he also knew she wanted to go slow. It was difficult finding that middle ground sometimes.

"We are. It's pretty good."

"Have you told her you love her?"

Sam snorted. "We've literally just started seeing each other, Jared."

"But it's not like you've not been spending all your time together for the last year!" He said it jokingly, and there wasn't any dig behind it but Sam still rolled his eyes.

"You and Paul are the same!"

"Those genes are strong, bro," Jared said, taking a sip of his beer. He wiped at his lips with the back of his hand after taking a gulp, then sat up straight, surprising Sam. "Did you hear that Leah's moving back?"

"What?"

"Yeah, I was over by Sue's the other day and overheard her speaking with Leah. She's supposed to move back next month."

Sam let out a big sigh and sank back into his chair. Leah coming back was going to make everything more complicated. He knew she was going to be angry after their last conversation as well. "Did you hear why she wanted to come back?"

"No," Jared said. "But she's not finished school, has she?"

If Sam recalled, Leah had another year left of college. What was she doing coming back? "Not yet."

"Sue didn't seem like she was able to convince her to stay away."

She wouldn't have been able to. Leah was stubborn like that.

What would make her come back to La Push? She'd never expressed much interest in staying, and once he cut things off with her, she'd tried to stay away as much as possible. The fact that she'd even come back those few months ago was weird. But then, Leah wasn't someone he was ever able to predict anyway.

He wondered what it meant now. Especially considering Seth was a wolf now. Leah would probably notice something was going on and try and figure it out; she'd never been good with not understanding things. Sam hoped that Sue would be able to stop most of that, and he hoped Seth would stay quiet.

The boy was having a harder time adjusting than the others, and it almost seemed like he was depressed. Sam hoped not, but he didn't really know how to help Seth. Every time he tried to talk to him, Seth would shut down and only answer with single syllables. It didn't really matter who talked to him either, he did the same with everyone.

"Let's just hope she doesn't get too close to this Cullen shit," Jared said.

Sam hummed. He couldn't think about it now; there was still a month before Leah came back. For now, he needed to focus on Jacob.

"Jared, have you done the rota for next week's patrol shifts?" he asked.

"Not yet."

"Would you be able to put me on with Jacob?"

Jared raised a brow. "Why would you wanna do that?"

"I need to say a few things to him, and I think it'll be easier in wolf form," he said.

Jared nodded slowly. "Well, I guess I can put you on Tuesday. That work for you?" he asked.

Sam nodded. Two days was good. It was enough time to figure out exactly what he was going to say to Jacob.

Those two days came by far too quickly.

It was the first time that they had been on a shift together since the Newborn army. Maybe even the first shift they'd had together for months. He was immediately struck with guilt.

Sam had thought that it was gone. That he'd processed everything he'd needed to after Jacob had been hurt, but apparently there was still more guilt to feel. Seeing Jacob in his wolf form in real life sent an echo of the pain and his inaction through his mind, and he whined.

He tried to hold back, but there was no point in keeping it to himself - he couldn't even if he wanted to - and so he asked Jacob for forgiveness.

Jacob was startled by the abruptness of the self-deprecating thoughts and he didn't even know why Sam would need to be forgiven. Sam thought it was obvious.

Memories of the agony leaked into their mind. Jacob whined, burying his head at the memory.

He couldn't understand why Sam thought that was his fault. Sam homed in on the image of ignoring the vampire that went to attack him. He knew unshakably that if he had paid attention, none of it would have happened. Jacob dismissed the thought on the basis that Sam was in pain himself - Sam didn't think that was an excuse to let his guard down. Jacob assured him it was a very legitimate reason.

Sam disagreed. The pack was his responsibility to care for and it was so obviously stupid to let his guard down when they were all vulnerable.

Jacob noticed that he felt something in his stomach, an uncomfortable weight at the amount of pressure Sam was putting on himself, and he didn't understand why. It wasn't like Sam had meant for anything to happen. It wasn't even like he had let himself feel the pain until after the battle had ended, so why was he blaming himself so much?

Sam was struck by how young Jacob was in that moment. Jacob wondered what he meant by that. Sam knew that letting himself relax in anyway would affect the Pack somehow and he still let himself do it when they were on the battlefield. Jacob was taken aback by how much Sam thought the Pack watched him. He didn't think it was that big of an issue.

Sam huffed. He believed it was an unconscious thing. An automatic response for others to follow. Jacob wondered, after a moment of thoughts flashing through their link, if they were really that affected by the Alpha.

Yes, Sam did think so. It was the reason why they - Jared and Paul - tried not to let the Pack see when there was something bothering them. Sam acknowledged how hard it was to do through the link, but they had to try at the very least.

Something that felt like dread and annoyance for the other wolf came through the link. It wasn't Sam's.

Jacob thought that sucked hard. Sam didn't need to keep such a tight lid on everything because the Pack had his back. No. The response was automatic and hit Jacob in a way that bypassed any sort of restraint. Jacob felt somehow attacked.

That was before the onslaught of memories came out that left him actually feeling attacked.

He didn't mean to, but Sam was all too vividly recalling how many times he felt like Jacob had let him or the Pack down. Naima's words were at the back of his mind though, so he tried to construct them in a way that wouldn't aggravate Jacob any more than he knew it already would.

It started with finding out that Jacob had purposefully circumvented his Alpha order so that he could let Bella Swan know about the wolves. It had been childish on his part, impulsive and dangerous. None of them had really known where her loyalties lay, and she also seemed to have been dealing with something mentally traumatic so leaving her in an even more vulnerable state had the potential to lead to something bad (harmful) for the girl.

Sam moved onto Jacob re-arranging his shifts with the twins that night at Naima's house. The twins who were younger than him and hadn't had a shift together because no-one really knew how they would react. They had taken the responsibility well, but he shouldn't have done that. If Jacob needed something adjusted, they would have sorted it out. That was deliberately underhanded and manipulative.

Taking Embry - the newest and most uncontrollable one of them all - to the Cullen's house for some unknown reason. It was a miracle that he hadn't phased on the spot.

Treating the people around him like they were stupid, like they didn't have his best interests at heart, disobeying orders from Sam's Second and Third.

Nominating himself to be in the mountains with Bella Swan as her own personal heater while the rest of his Pack was down in the forest - most of them freaking out because none of them had actually gone against a single Vampire before, never mind an army of them.

The absolutely disgusting way he had been treating Eve - and it didn't matter whether she was an Imprint or not because she was a human being - and Jacob couldn't pretend he hadn't been. Sam had listened to what the twins had to say about it. Eve had been upset and was left with a horrible impression.

Sam felt the anger the moment Jacob did. It was more than anger; it was almost fury at the images Sam was showing him.

What business was it of Sam's how he acted around Eve. She was his imprint after all.

Sam didn't think that was how anyone should behave. It didn't matter whether Eve was his Imprint or not, she was a human being. And no-one deserved to be treated that way. Jacob thought it was better Sam didn't say anything. After all, he'd massacred his Imprint and then left her to deal with it.

Sam didn't think that was fair. Jacob had no idea what it had been like to watch Emily get hurt and know that it was his fault.

Jacob wondered if that was something Sam was going to do often, then. Because hadn't the same thing happened to him at the fight.

The words were nasty, and Sam had to temper his own anger down. He tried to remember that Jacob was just a kid. That he was hurt and upset that Swan was going to get married and probably become a vampire - and what were they going to do about that? - but it was difficult when Jacob was supposed to be the person, he left this all to.

I don't want it! Jacob insisted. He didn't want to deal with Sam or the Pack or any of those judgmental assholes. Jacob shouldn't have even been doing this. He was supposed to be applying to be an engineer. He was supposed to go to college and get out of the dump of a Rez.

Sam reminded him that this was still his home, these were still his people. And it was only because of his dad that he was even able to consider going to college at one point. But this was his reality now.

And Sam was also sorry. He wasn't trying to judge Jacob, and he could see how it was coming off that way, but it was really hard to not comment on the way he'd been acting.

Jacob snarled, crouching lower to the ground as if he were going to attack. His thoughts were sporadic and weren't concentrating enough on one thing for Sam to get a clear enough picture.

What are you doing, Jacob? Sam didn't want to fight but he would if he had to. He wasn't going to step down and let Jacob take over the pack when Jacob was so clearly unready to be in any sort of position of leadership. It wasn't fair to anyone.

Finally, Jacob's thoughts arranged into a clear plan and Sam whined. Jacob was going to run. He was going to leave and not come back.

Sam pleaded with Jacob not to do it, but Jacob wondered if Sam was going to Alpha order him to stay. It was the only way he would.

They both knew that Sam wouldn't do that. He didn't like using the Alpha order; he hated the fact that so much of their free will was curtailed by being wolves that he never wanted to take any more of it away than was necessary.

There wasn't very much he could do other than to let Jacob go.

He ran past with a howl of anger and then all of a sudden Jacob couldn't hear him anymore. A screen came down over Jacob's thoughts and all there was, was the silence of Sam's own thoughts.

What the fuck is going on?

A.N: So - as you can see it's a bit of a cliff-hanger/there is the possibility to continue.

I'm pretty sure I want to do a sequel going into Breaking Dawn. Naima and Sam's relationship can still be explored. I'm not super sure when I'm going to do it though. I wrote HI over the course of a year before I posted it because I know how I am about posting. I don't like leaving people hanging, but I also want to work on my own original novel and my HP fic I've started.

I might do this in my spare time and maybe post some one-shots within this universe. But I probably will be doing a sequel at some point. It would be super cool to hear what you might want in the sequel, so leave suggestions. I think it could help inspire me.

Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the ride. And thank you everyone for your feedback and views. It's been a fun time for me :)