Wow, I can't believe that I first published this story back in 2017, had I updated it a month ago it would have been its 4th anniversary. Well happy late anniversary and thank you so much for those that have stuck along since then and even to those that have only recently read my story. Had it not been for you I would have given up on the story long ago.

I'm not going to lie, after 2 years of working on this story, I grew bored, I didn't have the same drive. Which is probably why I worked on other stories. The only reason why I continued this story was because of the comments. You guys kept me going so thank you so much! Please keep on leaving comments so I can update faster!

I know it has been many months since I last updated. I know it must sound repetitive since I feel I always say the same thing. But well you know the gist, Work, and school kept me busy. I haven't had a chance to update. Hopefully, my next update doesn't take this many months. Please do leave comments! You have no idea how much those motivate me to keep writing!

Stella's POV

After all the Kyle fiasco was over, I returned to live with Karen. After a few days Christmas finally came!

The pack decided to hold a party around 6 pm so I spent the morning and afternoon with Karen. We gave each other presents, chatted happily and even watched a Christmas special on TV. Before I knew it was 4 pm and I left to help Emily prepare for the upcoming Christmas party. I knew she was probably all alone in the cooking and wanted to lend a hand.

As soon as I arrived I noticed how hectic everything was there already was a lot of chatter, I saw guys coming in and out with food. Much to my surprise, it seemed everyone was helping.

Embry and Jared came with a lot of food, enough to feed a village. Maybe I'm exaggerating but it was a lot.

Sam seemed to be looking at everyone's progress and giving some feedback on some things.

Jake and Seth were hanging Christmas decorations, and other Christmas decor around the house and making everything more festive.

Collin and Brady were decorating the Christmas tree.

Quil and Emily were in the kitchen, cooking and baking.

Nate and Leah were bringing board games and Christmas movies.

The only one that seemed to be missing was Paul, but it wasn't too surprising Paul always seemed to be late and I doubt Christmas was going to be any different.

"Hey guys!" I greet everyone.

"Hey!"

"Hey Stella!"

"Merry Christmas!"

"About time you came."

"Hey!"

I smiled at everyone but as always my focus goes back to my Imprint, Seth.

I feel strong arms embrace me, his familiar chocolate scent envelops me and my smile widens as I hug him back.

"Merry Christmas, Stella!" Seth tells me with a caring smile.

"Merry Christmas, Seth!" I smile back.

"Hey Seth, when you're done I need you back here." Jake says as he is grabbing one side of a banner, the other side is on the floor.

Seth dropped it as soon as he saw me.

"Shoot! Sorry Jake, let me help you with that." Seth says and goes back to helping Jake.

"And just when we had finally gotten it in the center too." Jake sighs.

I look around to look if anybody needed any help.

"Hey little star, I was wondering when you were coming!" Nate calls me.

He and Leah were sitting in the couch, Nate was organizing the movies while Leah sat back and used her phone.

"Hey Nate, hey Leah! What're you guys doing?"

"Just seeing what movie we should watch. Can't seem to make up my mind." Nate says as he looks between his options.

"I'm playing solitaire and waiting for this thing to end already." Leah said as she kept her gaze on her phone.

"Aw c'mon Leah, it hasn't even started." I say and sit next to her.

"Yeah, well if it wasn't for him I would have stayed home and just slept the day away." Leah continued.

"Slept the day away? It's Christmas, you can't do that!" I exclaim.

"Oh believe me, Stella, I tried to tell her that but she didn't listen." Nate says.

"Well, what's important is that you are here." I smile and give her a side hug.

I notice she has a slight smile, but her gaze doesn't leave her phone.

"Stella, help me!" Nate whines.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I can't decide and Leah isn't of any help. All she watches are horror movies so she doesn't care about any of these."

"Hmmm…" I muse and look at the options.

"Well, Home alone is a favorite of mine, not to mention it's a classic. Although it can be a bit overplayed. Elf is a good one too not to mention funny. Hmm, I'm torn between those two."

Nate nods and grabs all the other movies and stores them away.

"Okay so between these two…" Nate murmurs. "Leah?"

"Don't care."

"Okay, so it's something we must decide, Stella."

I nod and look at the two movies.

We sit and stare at the two movies for what seems like forever when we hear a voice.

"Oh nice, are we watching Home Alone? It's been awhile since I've watched it." Seth says as he looks over to us.

"Home alone it is!" I say and hold the movie up as the declared winner.

"I thought you said it was overplayed, Stella." Nate said with a teasing grin.

"It's a classic for a reason, Nate." I shoot back.

"Is Stella here?" Emily asks, walking out of the kitchen.

Emily looks tired, her usually neat hair is messy as many hairs come out of her ponytail.

Poor girl, Christmas planning on top of wedding planning must not have been easy on her.

"Yeah Emily, I'm here. Do you need any help?" I stand up and walk her way.

Her eyes beam as soon as I offer, "Yes, please! We need help in the kitchen."

I enter the kitchen and the whole countertop is filled with food, some cooked other raw.

Quil was cutting the meat when he heard me come in.

"You're here! We were waiting for you." Quil said relieved.

"You were? Sorry, I should have come earlier."

"You're not at fault, I should have texted you that I needed more help in the kitchen." Emily smiles.

I smiled and I began cooking. While Quil focused on the meat, and Emily on the baking, I focused my efforts on the side dishes. After some time, I had made grilled onions, mashed potatoes, fried rice, garlic buttered mushrooms, potato fries, and grilled shrimp.

"Phew, that should do it." I say as I finished with the side dishes.

I hear the oven beep and notice Emily is still busy with some other pastries.

I grab some gloves and grab the brownies from the oven.

Just as I'm taking them out, Emily is putting in pies.

"Wow, that looks good." I say as I look at the pies and the brownies.

"Thank you!" Emily smiles.

"Alright, well the meat is ready." Quil says.

"Perfect! How about the baking Emily? Do you need some help?" I ask.

"No, that was the last batch, all we have to do is wait for it to come out. But as it is dessert, it should be out by the time everybody is done with the food."

"Food is ready!" I yell out and all eyes soon lock on me.

It was as if I had opened up the gates of a zoo as everyone ran to the kitchen and grabbed a plate or two of food.

"We'll take this to the table!"

"Yeah, leave it to us!"

"Man I'm starving.

"Dude, we're all starving."

I giggle as soon all the plates, leave the countertop and are put on the table.

"Sorry, I'm late!" I hear a voice say.

Is that Paul? No, it's too feminine to be Paul.

"Kimmie! About time!" Jared says as he hugs his girlfriend.

Oh, Kim is here!

"Sorry, sorry. Christmas celebration in my house took too long." Kim explained as she hugged Jared back.

"You're just in time, Kim! Food is ready!" I say with a smile.

"Oh thank you! I wish I could have helped." Kim said bashfully.

"What matters is that you came." Emily says with a smile.

I notice she has fixed her hair and looks more relaxed.

Not a second after, everyone digs in.

The food tasted delicious, Quil was surprisingly good at making the meat. You can really taste the flavor on the steak.

My side dishes really turned out good as well if I say so myself.

After finishing two plates, I notice Seth has sauce over his lips.

I giggle, he is such a messy eater.

I grab a napkin and wipe it off.

"O-oh, thanks!" Seth says.

"It's no use, Stella. He will get dirty again. Never really learned manners." Leah teased.

"I did learn manners! Besides, I wouldn't talk if I were you. You also have sauce in your face." Seth mischievously grinned.

Leah's eyes widen and begins to wipe the corners of her lips. She grabs her phone and seems to be looking at her reflection.

"….I don't have anything on my face!"

"Ha! Made you look." Seth snickers.

"You're such a kid!"

I laugh at the Clearwaters antics.

"I hope everyone has room for dessert!" Emily announced and brought a tray of brownies with her, Sam trailed behind her with two pies.

"Heck yes, I do!" Brady beamed.

Before long, everyone seems to be done with their meals.

After eating, everyone rushes to the Christmas tree.

We had decided that everyone needed to bring their presents a day before.

I look for red wrapped presents with a gold bow that I had previously wrapped.

Gotcha!

I grab the presents and look for Seth.

I don't have to look hard as he is coming to me from the other side of the tree.

"Hiya Seth." I smile.

"Hey Stella, I wouldn't look up if I were you." Seth says with a grin.

I stare at him with a confused expression and look up and see he is holding a mistletoe over us.

"Told ya, you shouldn't have looked. Now we need to kiss."

"Well yeah, I'd hate to break tradition." I chuckle and lean in.

Seth grabs me by the waist and pulls me closer until our lips meet.

The kiss is passionate and full of love.

Before long, we separate.

I smile, "Seth I have something for you."

I give him the gift and await his reaction.

He opens up the gift and inside there is a handmade brown bracelet.

"Is this…?" Seth asks with wonder in his eyes.

"I thought it would be unfair for me to be the only one to receive a bracelet so I decided to make one for you. I took some inspirations from the one you made me." I smile. "Now we both have promise bracelets."

Seth hugs me close, "Thanks Stella! I never thought I'd receive one too."

I put my arms around his back, "I'm happy you liked it."

"Now it's time for your present!" Seth exclaims happily and hands me a present.

"What? But you already gave me a present." I say and motion to my bracelet.

"That day wasn't Christmas, today is Christmas." Seth says with a cheeky smile.

"Seth, you shouldn't have." I smile and begin opening the present.

Inside there were tickets to a concert dance.

"There's a dance performance two hours from here. I thought we could go see it together."

"Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you!" I burst and hugged him with vigor.

It's been years since I last went to a concert dance, and I love them.

We continue chatting, Leah and Nate joining us and showing us what they each got each other after a few minutes Emily calls out to everyone.

"Hello, everyone I'd like to say something!" Emily raised her voice and all eyes turn to her. "Well my bridesmaids already know this-" she turns to Leah, Kim, and me. "but I figured Christmas would be the perfect time for everyone to know. But my wedding will be a week from today!"

Clapping was heard throughout the house. As everyone congratulated the new couple, Embry said.

"Wait, isn't that New Years' day?"

Emily nods, "Yes, what better way to celebrate a new stage in our life than having our wedding on New Years!"

Chatter enveloped the house as we had another reason to cheer today.

I looked at Leah, and even she had a smile on her face.

It wasn't a joyful smile but it wasn't a sad smile either more like a calm, relieved smile.

As the party continued, they had started on saying it was movie time and Nate showed everyone the Home Alone movie.

Some started arguing that Home Alone 2 was better than the first one and should play that one instead.

As the room got louder with chatter about the movies, Leah quietly stepped out of the house and into the backyard.

I noticed that even Seth was pretty deep into the debate, I took the chance and followed after Leah.

"Hey Leah."

Leah was staring at the moon, and it was a beautiful full moon.

"Hey, nice view we have today." Leah replied. "I wonder if where I'll be going the moon looks just as beautiful as it does here."

"What do you mean? Where will you be going?" I ask her.

Leah turns to me, "Me and Nate will be leaving town."

"You're leaving?!" I exclaim.

"Yeah." Leah says as she looks at the distance. "Just for a few days, I need to travel, get out of La Push. Really see what's outside."

Leah sighs. "I've been wanting to do this for a while now, Nate also wants to travel. And our relationship is pretty strong now, so I think it's the right time."

I frown. I know how much Leah wants this and I'm happy for her, but Emily's wedding is in a week and as her cousin, Leah needs to attend.

"But Emily's wedding is in a week! You can't leave."

"Yeah, I know. We're thinking of leaving after the wedding." Leah replies.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I'm not that cruel, to leave just before their wedding. Besides, I know that everyone will misunderstand. They'll think I'm leaving just to avoid their wedding when I've fully moved on." She crosses her arms and sighs. "I don't hate them anymore, I know now what it feels to imprint. If I had met Nate when I was dating Sam, I would've probably dumped Sam like he did with me. The Imprint bond is much more stronger than any normal relationship bond could be."

"Leah…" I smile, feeling happy that my friend has fully moved on and doesn't resent her cousin and ex-boyfriend anymore.

"Not to mention, me and Sam?" Leah scoffs. "Please, we both have anger issues, are too prideful, and way too stubborn. We fought too much, it wasn't gonna last anyway. It's a miracle we even got to three years. Mostly stayed together because of our long history. Looking back at it, it could even be described as toxic."

Oh wow, I never thought their relationship was that rocky...

"Us imprinting on other people was the best thing that could have happened to us." Leah added.

I hadn't noticed how alike Leah and Sam were, but she's right. They are both prideful, dominant, stern, stubborn, and moody. They both needed a partner that could compliment them. Someone nice, caring, upbeat, joyful, and optimistic.

And both Nate and Emily have those characteristics.

I hug her close.

"I'm so happy, you feel that way. There's a reason you were paired with Nate, and that is because he compliments you and will make you so happy!" I grin.

She pats my back and steps back, "You know I'm not one for hugs, but yeah he does make me happy."

"Besides you never know, maybe in a few months the next one to walk down the aisle may be you!" I tease.

Leah's cheeks turn red at my comment and she narrows her eyes, "As if! I'm not getting married that quick!" Leah then smirks. "Besides if anyone is getting married next, it will be you and my brother."

It was my turn to blush, "We're still in high school!"

"Yeah but you're gonna be seniors soon, and well after that you will be 18 so you can get married if you want."

"Uh… I don't know…me and Seth want to get married but we haven't really talked about when that will be…. I mean first, we each have to find jobs so we can buy a house… after getting married we will need a house to be able to live together…Once we get married we-" I was mumbling when Leah stopped me on my tracks.

"Hey, hey. I was just kidding. No need to overthink so much. Just enjoy the present and worry about the future later."

"Yeah…" I nod.

"Stella!" I hear the voice of my Imprint.

"Yes?!" I quickly reply.

Did he hear our conversation?!

Seth runs outside, "Hey, the guys finally decided to stick with Home Alone. You coming?"

Oh good, it doesn't seem like he heard.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" I nod and turn to Leah. "You coming Leah?"

"Yeah, I'm going." Leah says and walks with us.

"So how were they able to decide which movie to watch?" I ask.

"Well Home Alone 2 was actually winning as more guys seem to root for that movie but everything fell back to Home Alone 1 when Nate finally said that he only owns the first movie." Seth explains.

"What the heck! Nate, you should have just said so from the beginning!" Leah yells at Nate.

Nate chuckles, "Nah, the argument was too good, I've been debating which one is better myself so I wanted to know everyone's opinion."

Nate never changes, that's for sure.

Well at least because of their discussion I was able to talk to Leah.

I watch as Nate and Leah cuddle as the movie begins, and I lay my head on Seth's shoulder.

It's funny how everything ends up working out.

I look at my Imprint, and he soon hugs me close and kisses my cheek.

Not that I'm complaining.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! As I said before I'll try to not take so long on the next chapter. Please do not forget to leave a comment! And here's a question, which is the better movie, Home Alone or Home Alone 2? Leave your answers in the comment section!