AN:

Thank you, everyone, for your lovely reviews! I had such a kind guest reviewer, who feels like a kindred spirit, and seeing as I can't reply to you, I just wanted to let you know your kind words meant a lot to me! I hope you all keep enjoying this story and are happy with where it's going.

This is a long one, and I've started on the next chapter and should have it up within the week!

Seth's POV

Daisy had been right. There weren't a lot of houses for sale in La Push, which wasn't surprising. We were a small community, and families tended to stay in their houses from the moment they bought them to the day they died.

It was convenient that I had close family members on the tribal council, however, and also that I was now a part of the fastest growing construction company in the immediate area.

Word had spread about our fast and efficient work, and we were getting contracted to jobs as far out at Seattle, which suited the guys without imprints just fine, and left the rest of us to work closer to home. We didn't even mind the jobs in Port Angeles, taking a few cars out between us, working quickly to get everything done, and returning to the reservation by late afternoon.

I took my birthday off, at Daisy's request. She told me to sleep in when her alarm woke us in the morning, and brought me breakfast sandwiches to eat in bed. She told me she would be showering alone when I was finished with my food, and grinned at me conspiratorially as she closed her bedroom door behind me and made her way to the bathroom.

I didn't have to question her when she made her way back to me, dressed in a three-piece, black and gold lingerie set with thigh-high stockings. I'd never seen her wear anything like it, and I almost threw my empty plate to the floor in a rush to grab her and drag her to me.

"No, no, no," she insisted quickly, pressing her hands to my chest in an attempt to push me back onto the mattress. "You didn't let me try anything on my birthday. You're not allowed to try anything on yours."

"You're going to kill me," I sighed as she threw her leg over my hips and settled herself against me.

"I'd hope not," she grinned. "That would be the worst birthday ever." She whispered the words against my mouth before closing her teeth around my bottom lip, biting it tightly.

I groaned into her mouth, feeling her lips curl in a smile against mine before she pushed herself back and made her way down to settle in between my legs, wrapping her hand around me before closing her mouth around the tip of my erection.

We never bothered with wearing clothes to bed anymore, as every night consisted of paying close attention to each other, as well as most mornings.

I finally realized, after all this time together, she was probably the least sexy person I knew by society's standards at the present time, with her girly dresses and childlike nature. She didn't talk dirty, she didn't make innuendos, and she didn't usually bother with dressing up for me. And even as she was, she still managed to turn me on beyond belief. To see her in such a state had me reeling.

I held her hair off her face, watching her through heavy eyes as she switched between teasing me with her tongue, fitting as much of me as she was able to in her mouth, and moving her hand against me when she had to rest her jaw.

I tried to flip her over when I could feel myself come close to losing control, but she shook her head with a dark smile that looked too foreign on her face, and climbed back over me, pulling down the black lace on her hips and tossing her panties to the floor.

"Give up, Seth," she said gently, kissing me once before lowering herself onto me.

I moaned at the feeling of her as she swallowed me, wet and warm and tight around me and my hands fell to her hips, guiding her as she lifted and lowered herself slowly, her eyes slipping shut and her lips parting with quiet gasps.

I was never going to grow tired of this. I wanted her as much now as I had months ago, when we'd first taken this step in our physical relationship.

We'd learned each other's bodies enough to know what to do, how to string out our time together, and she paused when she needed to and watched me knowingly as she shifted her position, leaning back with her hand pressed against my abs as she rolled her hips over and over again.

My fingers pressed into the flesh of her hips and ass, moving her to pick up the pace, and she complied immediately, arching her back and pressing her thighs forward before she groaned loudly, her head thrown back so I couldn't see her face anymore. It was, without a doubt, the sexiest thing I'd ever seen in my life, and I reached up to unclasp her bra in one swift movement and throw it to the floor.

My hand found her breast and I ran my thumb along her stiff nipple roughly, wanting to push myself up and wrap my lips around it, but not wanting to go against her wishes of being in control this morning. I'd never let her have her way with me like this before, and I was going to suck it up and enjoy it.

Her whimpers started up quickly as she leaned back over my legs, and I felt her clench around me before her legs started trembling, her thighs locking before her chest heaved her forward and her shoulders hunched as her orgasm shook her. I understood her well enough now to know she wasn't going to be moving as easily from here on out, and I took the window opened to me and wrapped both arms around her back, flipping her onto the mattress so her head was against the wall under her window and thrusting my hips into hers roughly.

She gasped, but didn't argue our new position, and her hands found my shoulders, pulling me to her tightly as if there were any chance we could possibly get closer.

I kissed her, rough, our tongues brushing the smallest of amounts before a feral growl ripped through my chest and I grabbed her legs, pulling them around my waist before I curled one hand over the base of her neck, holding her firmly against the bed as I moved faster, hard, slamming into her in a way that had her almost crying out each time our hips made contact.

Her head thudded against the wall with my movements, and I swore before tugging her further down, toward me, taking her in a way I hadn't let myself before, not caring to keep her quiet, not caring to be gentle. My fingers tightened around the sides of her neck, telling her she was mine, and no one else's. Her nails dug into my shoulder blades and I lowered my face to her chest, breathing her scent in, sucking and nipping at whatever skin I could reach. I felt her tighten around me once more, and I gave into her, exploding inside of her with a low groan before I finally collapsed, my hands easing up against her as I held my weight on my knees and elbows.

"Have you remembered your pill this week?" I asked when I was finally able to talk.

She smiled sleepily and nodded. "Every day," she told me. We'd both decided over a month ago, that we couldn't be trusted with other types of contraception. Daisy had also come to the conclusion that condoms were just too expensive when you were going through more than a box a week.

She was the queen of naps after sex, and I let her fall asleep against my chest, both of our feet hanging over the side of the bed as I held her to me and breathed in her warm vanilla scent, focused on her relaxed expression and gentle breaths. She was still in the thin straps of black elastic around her waist and stockings, which had come undone on one side in our passion and crumpled just over her knee.

When she woke, more than a half an hour later, she smiled at me guiltily. "I fell asleep."

"You looked like you needed it."

"I've ruined your birthday,"

"No," I kissed her gently and brushed a stray lock of dark hair from her eyes. "What did you want to do today?"

"It's your birthday," she reminded me quietly. "We're doing whatever you want to do."

"Well, we have nothing planned until dinner at Jake's tonight. Did you want to go for a drive?" I swallowed nervously and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Where are we going?"

I managed my best smile and nudged her up to a seating position. "Get dressed in something warm. I'm going to have a shower."

She was waiting in a thick sweater and a pair of boots when I reemerged, seated in front of her small mirror on her bedroom floor, putting on a light covering of makeup.

"You don't need that," I insisted, opening the drawer in her dresser that had been reserved for the majority of my day-to-day clothes. I settled on a pair of comfortable shorts and a t-shirt, dressing quickly and throwing my towel over her bedroom door.

"I wanted to look pretty for you today," she spoke quickly when I opened my mouth to argue with her. "I know! You think I'm always pretty, blah, blah, blah. But you're blinded by our imprint, and I want to make an effort. I'm almost done."

She gave up on insisting she was going to drive when I started ignoring her, and she climbed into the passenger seat of my truck with a small huff, tucking her feet in so I could close the door behind her.

I started the fifteen minute drive, and she turned to me with silent interest when she realized we were headed to La Push.

"Are we going to see your friends? I thought everyone would be working."

"They are," I agreed.

"I guess I'll just shut up and wait to see where you're taking me, then," she chuckled, crossing her legs underneath her on the seat and fiddling with our music.

I stopped outside of the wide stretch of empty land, and she looked up, confused. There wasn't a house for hundreds of yards on either side of this, and the land backed onto dense forest land. I climbed out of the truck without a word, shutting the door noisily behind me, and crossed quickly to open her door for her.

She climbed down from her seat, taking my offered hand, and stared as I waved my arm out to the land.

"Wow," she said sarcastically. "It needs a lawnmower."

"Well, that can be our first purchase once it's done," I chuckled, looking out over the knee-length grass spread out before us.

I saw her head snap in my direction and her upper body tilted toward me. "What?!"

"It's ours," I said simply, throwing her a small grin, waiting for her to catch on. "I spoke to the council. I bought it the other day – I wanted to keep it a surprise until I could bring you out to see it."

"What?" she repeated in a quiet breath. Her eyes trailed from me back to the land, and I watched as she took it all in.

"I…thought about asking your opinion first. But I kind of wanted it to be a surprise. We don't have to build here, if you don't like it. But I thought, it's far enough away from neighbors that we wouldn't have to worry about bothering anyone, it has access to the tree line so I'd literally be able to walk out the door to head to patrol, and Hugo and Juniper will have plenty of room to run. It's a ten minute walk to the beach, ten minutes from Leah, and fifteen to Jake and Nessie's…" I swallowed nervously when she didn't say anthing, her eyes still wandering from the wide spanse of grass in front of us to the thick trees in the distance. "And there weren't any houses that were already built for sale. I've talked to the guys, and they think we could have everything done and ready to move us in within a few months. Most of it's already approved…what do you think?"

"Seth," she laughed breathily and shook her head. "It's your birthday. I'm meant to be doing things for you, and you spring this on me!"

"Well, to be fair, I really liked my gift this morning…"

"It's perfect," she said simply, her teeth bright as she smiled up at me. "It's beautiful, I love it."

I grinned, relieved, and wrapped my arms around her, leaning down to rest my chin against the top of her head. "Can you hear the beach?"

"No," she admitted. "But if you can, it's an added bonus. All I hear is the wind and the birds."

"And silence,"

"Yeah," she sighed blissfully. "And house plans? You've thought all that up, too?"

"Yes," I squeezed her tightly and kissed her hair. "I thought three bedrooms. The guys made a few jokes about us filling it up with kids, but I figured a guest room wouldn't hurt, incase one of your friends from back home comes to stay. And you could have a whole room to your work, so you wouldn't have to worry about packing everything up when you're finished working."

"I don't deserve all that,"

"You do," I insisted immediately. "And, if you change your mind one day and you want to do the whole kids thing, we'll have the space for it. What do you think?"

She giggled and turned in my arm to throw me an accusing look. "Is this you letting me know you want to have kids without telling me?"

I shrugged. "If you wanted to, I'd want to. It doesn't bother me right now."

She sighed and fingered the hem of my shirt, avoiding my eyes. "I want to do everything fifty-fifty from here. No secret purchases behind my back. If my name can't be on the house, I want my money to be."

"Your name will be on the house as soon as it's legal."

"Slow down, mister," she chuckled. "I agreed to talk about the house, no more marriage stuff until we're well settled."

"A man can dream," I sighed. We laughed quietly and she looked over her shoulder to gaze back at our stretch of the long, almost-empty street.

"What color walls?"

"Whatever you want."

"Carpet?"

"If you want,"

"Maybe wooden floors," she mused quietly. "And rugs. Lots of rugs, and wall hangings, and a white kitchen and interior. And a bathtub."

"That sounds perfect."

We stayed until the rain picked up, turning us back to my truck. I helped her climb into her seat and started it up slowly, driving to the beach where I parked and we leaned back in our chairs, watching heavy raindrops weigh evergreen branches down and stream off their leafy tips.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her gently.

"Children," she said quietly. "And how you'd give up not having them for me."

"You worry too much," I told her.

She twisted in her seat, tucking her legs underneath her and tilted her head at me until I looked down at her. "Do you want to have kids?"

I shrugged easily. "It's not something that's looming on my mind. I thought when I found you I'd be like the other guys and have some weird instinct to knock you up straight away, but I like it just the two of us."

"But…if I decided it was something I wanted, would you be happy to do it?"

"Of course I would," I said instantly, and regretted it immediately when she drew her eyebrows together, worried.

"So you want it."

"Daisy," I sighed, wondering how I was going to word exactly what I needed to say. "I am happy if it's just us for the rest of our lives. I only need you. I'm not going to say I wouldn't be thrilled to have someone that was half of each of us to take care of, because of course that would make me happy, but I'd rather it just be us if that would make you happiest."

"I would do it for you, if you really wanted it," she told me quietly. "It's not something I want for myself right now, but if it would make you happy, we could. Maybe in five years or so –"

"No," I said sternly, in a voice I very rarely used with her. "This is not about what I want. I want you. If you change your mind one day, whether it's in a year, or five, or ten or fifty, we can talk about it then. But you were honest with me about your thoughts on the whole thing from the day we met, and it's not something I'm ever going to force you into."

"Well, I don't think we'll have the option in fifty years," she joked weakly. "I would do anything for you, Seth."

"I know," I told her. "But I think it's time you start taking some control of your life, and live the way you want to. That's why you moved out here, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she mused quietly.

"And if we have twenty dogs before we die, that's all the kids we need."

"Maybe we could try a cat, once we lose Hugo and Juniper…"

"Not happening," I grinned. "We'll get a parrot."

"If I really wanted to get a cat. A cute little rescue cat, with one eyeball and a squished tail…" she trailed her nails up my arm, her eyes bright with teasing after our heavier subject.

I sighed theatrically and rolled my eyes. "If you really wanted to get a cat, which I highly doubt you do, because I know for a fact you're allergic, then we would do it. But I'm not cleaning up after it, and I don't want it doing that weird nuzzling thing on me."

"Is this actually a 'naturally born enemies' thing, or are you just being difficult because it's funny?" she laughed.

"I don't trust them!" I smirked. "They're all shifty and weird, and they only want attention when they need something from you."

"Hey! I'm shifty and weird!"

"Yeah, but you want attention all the time," I pulled her toward me and grinned down at her, her laughter filling the small space of my truck as she steadied herself with a hand on my thigh.

Her eyes flicked to my side window, looking out over the empty lot behind the thick water running down the glass. "None of the guys would happen to be running past on patrol, would they?"

"I don't think Jake's added the parking lot of the beach to the list of places we have to watch out for," I told her quietly.

She moved her other hand to the zipper on my shorts and tugged it town slowly, shifting herself so she leaned over the center console, her knees on her seat. "Good," she murmured as she lowered her head to my lap.

We managed to entertain ourselves for the rest of the afternoon, and Daisy paced her room, trying on multiple dresses and discarding them with frustration to the foot of her bed and the floor as the sky darkened outside.

"We have to leave in five minutes," I reminded her, watching helplessly, my fingers stroking Juniper's neck as she sighed and reclined in my lap.

"I know! I just…I don't look good in anything! What are you even meant to wear when you meet vampires?"

"Wear anything," I offered unhelpfully. "Just wear what you had on today – it's only dinner at Jake's."

"I just feel like I need to make an effort! What if they judge me? Nessie said her parents think of you like family. I want to make sure I look good enough that they're happy with me."

"Well, you met a pack of wolves in your regular clothes, and you handled that okay,"

"I didn't exactly know I was meeting super humans the first time I met everyone, though…" she frowned down at the orange and green sundress she was wearing and tugged at the bodice. "This is too booby, isn't it? See, this is the kind of dress that makes me wish I was just a little bit flat-chested. It squishes them up, and I look like a whore!"

"I like it," I shrugged.

"But aren't they like…three hundred years old or something? They'll have ideas about this kind of thing. I need something really covered. Modest," she reached for a fifth dress and held it out on the hanger, studying it closely.

"Bella's only thirty-five, to be fair," I said quietly. "And Edward's lived through our time, as well as his own. I doubt you're going to offend anyone if you show your shoulders."

"I want to be respectful."

I stood and caught her fingers as she stretched her arms behind her to reach for the zipper, ignoring Juniper's whine of protest at my sudden movement.

"This is perfect," I turned her quickly in my arms and gripped her shoulders tightly. "Stop. Freaking. Out."

"Vampires," she breathed back at me. "I think it's natural for me to be freaking out!"

"After taking advantage of your shape-shifter boyfriend three times in the last twelve hours? That's very hypocritical of you, Daisy Wilkins-Jones,"

She scowled at me. "Do not use my ridiculous last name against me."

I smirked down at her and raised my eyebrows. "Whenever you want to change it, I'll be here waiting."

She stepped out of my reach immediately and grabbed high-necked sweater, tugging it on over her head. "Okay. I'll stop. I'm fine."

"Yes, you are," I told her, wanting her to believe the words coming out of her own mouth. "Edward and Bella are great. They'll love you. You're dating me, and you've been a good friend to Ness. They can't exactly not like you after that."

"Still weird that I'm going to be the only human there," she muttered as I followed her to the kitchen, watching her dish up Hugo and Juniper's food.

"We don't have to talk species," I chuckled. "We're all just people. You just happen to be slower and less coordinated than the rest of us."

I opened the door to the truck for her and waited until she was seated comfortably to close it, crossing to my side and starting up the engine. She was twisting her fingers in her lap, so I stole one of her hands away and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Stop stressing,"

"I – I feel like it's something warranted…"

"And that is?"

She was quiet for a long moment. "You…you know how you guys all listen in to each other's thoughts while you're on patrol?"

I sighed in relief, grateful she'd stuck to such a minor worry when she could have been panicking about being attacked and killed at my birthday dinner. She seemed completely accepting that I was sure of my extended family's restraint.

"You're worried about Edward seeing something you don't want him to?"

"I feel like…I'm going to know he's completely aware of what I'm thinking the entire time. I don't want to…show him…certain things. Maybe if I didn't know what he would do, I wouldn't even be thinking about it! But it's going to be so hard to focus on not thinking about those things –"

"It's just one of those things you have to accept," I told her. "He's been around for a long time. You're only human. You're going to have human thoughts."

"How do you stop the guys from seeing everything?"

I turned my head to give her a long look, and she suddenly parted her mouth in horror.

"Oh, God!"

"It's natural for us!" I said, too quickly. "We've all seen everything. It's just a part of pack life."

"Jacob," she gagged over his name. "I have to have dinner with him!"

"If it means anything, the guys that haven't imprinted yet think you're really hot."

"Oh, God," she groaned, rubbing her eyebrows hard with her free hand. "Lights off from now on."

"Doesn't really help," I cringed as she whined in her seat with the reminder of my advanced eyesight. "Look, it's done, okay? I've seen all the other girls. It's just how it is. I'm sorry I can't switch it all off, but I don't want to lie to you, either."

"How can you stand to look at me after you've seen Nessie?!"

"Well, Nessie really doesn't do it for me," I said in a weak attempt at a joke. "If you're really worried about Edward tonight, recite lines from a show you were in or something. Sing in your head…I don't know. You'll be fine. Besides, he also has to endure dinner with his daughter and future son-in-law for the first time since they started living together. I doubt he'll be worried at all about our relationship."

We were mostly silent the rest of the drive, and I parked my truck on the road outside of Jacob's house. It was lit warmly, the golden glow reaching wide across the neat yard in the dark street. I could hear Nessie exclaim an excited cheer about our arrival, and her father chuckled in response, picking up his conversation with Jake as though they hadn't been interrupted.

"So no chance I'm going to be eaten tonight," Daisy mused while the two of us sat in silence, not making a move to exit the truck.

"No, I wouldn't say so," I grinned. "Especially not now that they know you're worried about it."

"Of course they can hear as well as you can," she sighed. "I have to keep in mind that my little human senses are pathetic in comparison."

I exited my side of the truck and was opening her door for her in a second, and she smiled at me as I helped her down.

"This is the last couple of people you'll have to meet before you know my entire family," I told her as I closed the door behind us and started leading her up to the door. "The other Cullens are great, but they're not around too much anymore."

"Hopefully I make a good impression," she breathed, tugging at her skirt with her free hand. We neared the door, and it swung open for us before we had a chance to knock.

"I think we know enough about you that any first impression wouldn't have an impact, Daisy." Edward smiled at my imprint before pulling me into a brotherly hug.