Ricochet

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Chapter Seventeen

Sam Uley couldn't contain the maelstrom of his thoughts from his brothers. His anxiety about Emily's declining health was like a hurricane going around inside his head. Ever since little Sophie was born, Emily had been struggling to recover from the difficult birth. She was very fragile but continued to insist that nothing was wrong to Sam. Of course, he knew otherwise, you only had to look to see how thin and frail she had become. But his repeated pleas for her to seek medical attention fell on deaf ears. Emily was a compassionate soul, but she could also be stubborn.

"Go home, Sam. You don't need to be out here."

"Emily is sick of me hovering, Jake. She practically chucked me out of the house this morning." Sam said grimly.

"Tell her you wanted to have some extra time with Sophie." Jacob suggested. "She can't argue with that."

"She'll see through it."

"So what? At least you'll be reassured that she is okay."

"Don't take his advice, Sam." Paul chipped in as he caught up with the two lead wolves. "If Emily is anything like Rach, she'd probably go after you with a tire iron for going against her wishes."

Jacob let out a low growl of frustration. Lahote was getting on his last nerve. The thought that Paul would someday be his brother-in-law set his teeth on edge. According to the thoughts leaking from Lahote's puerile brain, Rachel was already planning the wedding, much to Paul's chagrin. She was opting for a lavish, expensive ceremony, something which was unaffordable in reality, but which Rachel still felt she was entitled to.

"Butt out, Paul." Jacob warned him. He was fast losing patience.

"No, I won't." Paul asserted. "You know nothing about women, Jake. You've been obsessing over the leech lover for so long – Aooooo!" He suddenly let out a pained whine as Jacob abruptly spun around and clamped his sharp teeth into Lahote's tail.

The two of them began another one of their numerous fights. It was happening more and more often lately. Jacob met Paul's attack head on, their angry snarls echoing off the trees. Jacob quickly began dominating the fight. He was the largest wolf out of the pack now, even bigger than Sam, and much stronger. He sank his teeth into the ruff of silvery grey fur around Paul's neck and began to shake him back and forth like he weighed nothing. Paul wheeled around, raising his right foreleg to try and unbalance Jacob, but it had no effect. He found himself pushed further and further to the ground, until his muzzle was pressed into the dirt.

"Submit." Jacob demanded.

An angry whine rumbled in Paul's throat, he tried to rise but Jacob's greater weight and strength was too overwhelming.

"Enough!" Sam ordered, his voice lacking its usual timbre. He sounded tired and out of sorts, the burden of his worry about Emily dragging him down.

The other wolves milled about agitatedly. They were all feeding off of their Alpha's anxiety, it infected their mood, made them restless and unsure. When phased the pack existed in an emotional ecosystem, for them to function at their best, they needed the emotional stability and cohesion that their leader elicited in them. It kept them balanced and focused.

Sam had always had a mature outlook on life. Due to his father's disappearance when he was a child, he had been forced to grow up fast, taking on most of the responsibilities that his father should have taken. He was tough, but loving and caring to his friends. It had made him the ideal leader in the beginning, especially when Jacob had shirked his responsibility and refused to step up into the Alpha role, which was his birth right.

But as the years passed and the pack continued to grow in numbers, Sam struggled with his role of Alpha, sometimes being too slow to take command, other times going too far with his authority by forcing the others with his Alpha voice. He tried hard to balance his leadership and do the best for his pack and for Emily. When he found out she was pregnant, it just added another layer of responsibility he had to shoulder. Emily had been ill from the beginning, the pregnancy taking an unexpected toll on her health that neither were prepared for. Sam's worry over her welfare often made him distracted, sometimes making rash decisions when a potential threat was near. That distraction had nearly caused disaster for the pack on several occasions. It was Jacob who had taken over and pulled them out of it, sometimes by the skin of his teeth.

"Submit!" Jacob demanded again, putting more pressure on Paul's neck.

Lahote, gasping for air, finally caved in and admitted defeat. Jacob released the pressure and the grey wolf staggered upright, wheezing painfully with every breath.

The others were glad the conflict was over. They had little sympathy for Paul. He often brought trouble upon himself, even after all these years he still struggled to read the mood and keep his big mouth shut.

Jacob shook his head and body, much like a dog shaking water out of its fur. The muscles under his gleaming russet fur rippled with the effort, leaving his shaggy coat ruffled. His ears perked forward as he raised his big head and looked in Sam's direction. The black wolf's own head was sagging, his pull to go home and see his imprint was felt by everybody.

"Go home, Sam. I've got this." Jacob said again.

"I think I might – "

"JAKE!" Seth Clearwater's breathless voice put an end to the conversation as he phased in. "BILLY CALLED MY MOM, AND SHE CALLED ME. CJ'S MISSING!"

Bella was pacing back and forth outside the house like a crazy person. Nothing Charlie said or did could calm her down. She was frantic with worry, her nails bitten to the quick as she waited for Jacob to make an appearance. Even though only thirty minutes had passed since Charlie had reached out to Billy for help, to Bella it felt like an eternity.

"Where is he?"

"He'll be here soon." Charlie was just as panicked, but he was hiding it better. In his line of work, it was a priority that he kept a cool head. He was in cop mode, stifling his own emotions as he tried his best to keep Bella on an even keel. He knew from past experience how rash she could be when she felt threatened. If he left her alone for a moment, it was highly likely she would run into the forest after her son, and then they would both be lost.

Out of the corner of his eye, Charlie noticed movement amongst the trees. The sun was finally brightening under the clouds. Now there was more light, it was suddenly possible to make out shapes and colours. "Bells." He alerted his daughter. "They're here."

Bella stopped pacing and followed the direction of his gaze. She soon spotted Jacob's wolf. He was in the lead, his russet fur dappled where it caught the light. Keeping pace with Jacob, black as midnight, came Sam. He moved like a sinuous shadow through the trees. Bella soon saw the others trotting in formation behind them. Jacob had brought the whole pack with him. Relieved, she tripped and stumbled her way toward them, with Charlie following hot on her heels.

"Jake!" Bella burst into tears as soon as she reached him.

The enormous russet coloured wolf, his reddish-brown fur, longer and shaggier than his brothers, lowered his enormous head, his familiar dark eyes finding hers. He looked as torn and worried as she felt.

"I don't know what happened. CJ was in his room when I woke up. He must have snuck out somehow. But I don't know why, Jake. I'm so scared…. what if?" Bella couldn't finish her sentence.

The wolf's muzzle nuzzled along the side of Bella's face. She felt his hot breath ghost across her chilled skin, it felt comforting in a strange way, reassuring.

"You haven't sensed him? He hasn't phased?"

The Jacob wolf shook his enormous head in confirmation.

"Then where is he, Jake? If he hasn't phased, then I don't understand why he would run away."

Jacob crouched down on his front legs and dropped his head so that his face was no higher than hers, staring at her, communicating with his expressive dark eyes that he would find their son and bring him home safe.

"Hurry, Jake, please. I don't like to think of him out there all alone." Bella pleaded. Her worst fear that her small son had phased may have been allayed for now, but it didn't explain why he would have taken off like that without her knowing. It was something CJ wouldn't do. She reached her hand out, her fingers trembling as she touched the red brown fur on the side of Jacob's face.

Jacob's black eyes closed briefly, and he leaned his huge head into her hand. A thrumming hum resonated in his throat for a minute, then he opened his eyes again and he straightened. He looked intently into Bella's pleading brown eyes for a few seconds longer, before dashing away, his quivering nose trained on the ground as he began tracking CJ's scent. The other wolves followed suit, each of them branching out in different directions, until their large forms melted back into the trees.

CJ jiggled the infant in his arms, trying to soothe her fractious cries. With eyes brimmed with tears and a quivering lip he was utterly out of his depth. "I have to be able to cope with her! I have to!"

The baby's arms became faster, grasping at the air with increased speed, her shrill cries were only broken by her gasping for breaths in-between. Her face was blotched and her little mouth stretched wide. CJ gazed down at her scrunched up little face, his own tears mirroring hers. He jiggled her again a little faster, his mind on overdrive as he tried to quieten her down.

In the back of his mind, CJ heard the sound of his mommy humming. She often used to do that to soothe him. Her hum always had a happiness: something carefree as the hum turned into the soft sounds of a lullaby.

CJ began mimicking the sound his mommy used to make as he rocked the crying baby. He stood up, holding her close, bobbing and swaying to unheard music. Soon the infant's cries softened to snuffles as he began to sing.

"Go to sleep my baby…. Close your pretty eyes…. Angels up above you…Look down on you from the sky. Great big moon is shining…."

CJ could see the little baby girl was enjoying the sound of his voice, it was plain in her smiling eyes and dimpled cheeks. He left the kitchen, carrying her through the small house, he was feeling more confident now. More in control. One glance out of the window told him that the rain had stopped. The sun's rays broke through the grey clouds, illuminating CJ and the little baby he held in its warm light. Feeling heartened, he pushed open the back door, squinting his eyes as they adjusted to the brightness. He had paused in his singing, causing the little baby girl to become restless.

"Stars begin to glow…. It's time for all the tiny babies…. To go to sleep…. Go to sleep my baby…."

Upon the path in front of him, the dappled light was a mosaic of colours. CJ continued to hum the lullaby, his mind and attention so focused on the baby in his arms, that he almost tripped over Emily's motionless body lying on the ground.

In the distance a wolf howled….

A/N-thanks for reading!