SIX PART FOUR

Eden shot up from the spot she'd dozed off in when she heard the flap to the tent unzipping quietly. Paul collapsed against his own sleeping bag and for a second or two, neither of them spoke. Eden rubbed her eyes and yawned, moving closer to Paul cautiously. "It's really you...Right?"

"Yeah." Paul mumbled after a few seconds, opening his eyes to gaze up at her. Every single part of his body ached and he was tired; more tired than he'd ever been in his whole life. "It's over and done with. Did you fall asleep?" he snickered quietly as he asked the question. The answer was an obvious yes because her hair was sticking up all over and her eyes were heavy lidded. And she couldn't do anything without almost yawning. His eyes settled on a black leatherbound book sitting on top of the comforter he'd put over her the night before and he gazed at it just long enough that Eden caught onto him doing it and quickly, she shoved the book out of sight before turning her attention back to him, grimacing over a black eye that was already beginning to fade. She swore under her breath and shook her head. They were doing it again, staring at each other wordlessly.

Paul broke the silence. "It's gonna be gone in like, five minutes. One of the cool things about being what I am. Injuries heal a lot faster... If that's what you were worried about."

Eden nodded wordlessly and turned herself away from him, digging through her yellow bookbag until she produced two liter sized bottles of water, holding one out to him. Paul took the water and gulped half of it down in one shot. Eden uncapped her own bottle and took a few sips.

"Is everyone okay? Is this really over? I'm.. Look, I'm sorry that my sister dragged you guys into this in the first place." Eden asked in a rush, going quiet after her apology. Paul took a deep breath or two and gazed at the opening to the tent. "Jacob's not doing the best right now, but we heal fast. He'll be fine in a few hours. It was... it was a pretty close call." Paul answered her questions and chose to ignore the apology she gave for the thousandth time. "Sam says we can leave in an hour or two, we're just making sure the coast is clear and they're all gone."

Eden grimaced at hearing Jacob wasn't doing well. And she couldn't shove the thought down fast enough that it was just something else Jacob had to endure, all no thanks to her older sister. She sighed and nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Bet you're in a hurry to get off this mountain. I know I am."

She couldn't shove down the thought that he probably had someone he'd rather be with waiting. And she hated the fact that she felt the smallest surge of jealousy at the thought. Paul cleared his throat from behind her as she kept her back to him, gathering up the things strewn across the floor of the tent. He happened to spot her sketch pad sticking out of a corner of the sleeping bag and he reached for it, grabbing it before Eden realized what he'd done and could stop him. As he flipped through, Eden tried a time or two to reach for it, pouting.

"Give me that!"

"Hold on, damn. You're good at this." Paul flipped through the sketch pad and paused when he saw a sketch of him that she had to have done from memory, because it was a recreation of the day he'd met her on the beach. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and almost immediately, before he could stop himself, the other side of him was picking up on the shift in her mood. The slightest hint of jealousy that he might want to hurry away because he had better things to get back to and maybe even someone waiting on him.

Eden reached out and snatched away the sketchbook, shoving that down into her yellow bookbag too. She stood and gathered her sleeping bag and the high powered flashlight, pausing by the tent opening as if she were waiting on him. She found herself doing it again, staring at him all lost in the depths of his eyes -and her own thoughts.

Paul chuckled. "Hot date?" he inquired as he nodded to the spot next to him so she'd sit down again. Eden sank down to sit before she even realized that somehow, he'd managed to get her to do it again. After a few seconds, she laughed softly to herself and shrugged. "Just thought maybe you'd had enough of me for a weekend, truth be told."

"All that's waitin on me off this mountain is cutting my dad's grass. Do you really think I'm in a hurry to go do more physical stuff?" Paul scoffed as he moved to sit in front of her and reached out, tucking his fingers beneath her chin. "You in a hurry to get away from me?"

He tried to stop it, but the slightest hint of fear crept into his voice. He cleared his throat to cover it. Eden fidgeted and shrugged and just when he was beginning to think he wasn't going to get an answer, she spoke up quietly. "No, not really. It's not that. I just, uh.." and she fell silent.

"What?" Paul asked, reaching out to lightly grip her jaw and make her look at him when she started to look down. "What were you going to say, huh? C'mon, just say it. I'm not everyone else. You can say whatever you have on your mind."

Eden went back to fidgeting when Paul released the grip on her jaw and she trained her eyes on the pair of sweats she'd changed into the night before. She took a deep breath and mulled over what he pointed out and after a few seconds, she spoke up quietly. "You always seem so irritated when I'm around. I just thought you'd be ready to get away. Nevermind the fact that it hasn't been that bad this weekend. Forget I said anything, okay? I don't... I'm tired of arguing and second-guessing everyone, I don't know. Things are weird right now. Really, really weird."

Paul chuckled quietly and sat there a few seconds as he thought about what she said and more importantly, what she wasn't saying. And it hit him like a ton of bricks all at once. Sam was right.

Fighting their bond was not going to happen. He'd been an idiot to think it would happen, truth be told. And further driving this realization home, he was starting to really see that maybe he didn't want to fight it quite so hard.

"Yeah, yeah. They definitely are that." Paul echoed, staying quiet. Letting himself get used to what he was now realizing to be true. Trying to figure out what to do next, how did he tell her any of this now that he knew he didn't want to fight it quite as hard as he had been. " You don't irritate me, alright? It's just..." he went quiet as he tried to choose his next words wisely.

"Just what?" Eden asked the question before she could stop herself from doing so. She shifted her gaze, letting it settle on Paul as she waited on him to say whatever he'd been in the process of saying. "Well?"

All he could do was shrug. And pull himself off of the ground, holding out his hand to her. She eyed his hand with her brow raised but she let him pull her up after a second or two and the two of them stepped out of the tent and quietly started to tear it down. When they finished, Bella wandered over.

"I'm going down.. To Billys."

Eden glanced up at her sister and shrugged. Every part of her wanted to point out that if it weren't for her thing with Edward, Jacob wouldn't be in the shape he was in currently, but the pain in her sister's eyes kept her from pointing it out. "Yeah, okay. I.. Do you want me to go too?" Eden asked quietly.

"Do you want to go, Eden?" Bella asked.

Eden nipped at her lip and shuffled her feet as she thought about it. She and Jacob used to be best friends but they'd kind of drifted apart over the course of everything that had taken place. Deep down, she knew Jacob wouldn't care if she were there or not as long as her sister was and at one point in time, knowing this would have hurt.

But it didn't matter now.

"He's only going to want you there." Eden answered.

"You're his friend too." Bella insisted, glancing at Paul and back at her sister. Giving her a pleading look because the last thing Bella wanted to do was leave Eden alone with Paul Lahote, a guy she couldn't trust as far as she could throw him. A guy who admitted out of his own mouth that he wanted Eden to stay away from him.

"We weren't ever as close as you two are though.." Eden shuffled her feet again and sighed, shaking her head. Giving her sister a weak smile as she hitched her head towards Paul's general direction and stared at him for a second or two. "You go ahead. I'm gonna come down with Paul. I just... Remember how I said I needed space earlier? I still need it. I can't be around you guys right now, alright?"

For the millionth time that weekend, Bella apologized profusely to her sister for everything and somewhere in the midst of it, Eden realized that Bella's words stopped holding any sort of real weight when Bella kept going back for more where Edward was concerned. Any reasonable person, Eden found herself musing silently, they would have found a way to extract themselves from this, love or not.

"Just go, Bella." Paul spoke up from behind Eden, startling her just a little with his sudden appearance. He gave Bella a grim look and nodded his head towards Edward. "Your leech is waiting. If Eden wants to leave with me, I'm not going to stop her."

Bella's brow quirked as she looked up at the giant of a teenage male. "You're the one who said..."

Paul shrugged. Seeing no point in lying -and frankly, being a little too tired of all the fighting imprint he'd done for months at this point, he laughed. "I know what I said. When I said she needed to stay away, it was for her own good. Now I'm telling you that if she wants a time out away from you and all the bullshit, it's for her own good."

Bella eyed him warily, shaking her head no. "Eden, c'mon."

"Bella, I said no. Just go, alright? I just want to go home." Eden glanced from Paul to her sister, getting the distinct feeling that she was missing a lot of context and discovering in the process that she disliked the feeling. It bothered her that apparently, her sister and Paul had some kind of secret conversation, a little more than she wanted to admit.

"Okay, alright." Bella took a deep breath and apologized yet again to her sister. The guilt she felt about Eden getting dragged into the middle of all this was probably never going to fully subside and at this point, she was more or less just trying to learn to live with that.

As Bella wandered over to Edward and Carlisle, Eden grabbed her pack and her rolled up sleeping bag and wordlessly, she started to walk away herself, leaving Paul to stand there, try to process what caused the sudden shift in her mood, those super high walls of hers going right back up.

And then, it hit him.

Almost as soon as he realized what she assumed, he took off, catching up to her just as she caught up to Leah and Seth. Tapping her shoulder and waiting until she turned around.

Eden knew he was behind her, but she hoped that if she ignored him he'd just go away. All she kept going back to was the fact that apparently, Bella knew something huge about Paul -aside from the fact that he wolfed out spontaneously, and apparently, Paul wanted her to stay away and he'd told Bella to keep her away at some point.e

Paul cleared his throat and when she started to walk away without a word, he fell into step beside her, his mind racing a million miles an hour as he tried to come up with the best solution for this new little problem, all while resisting the urge to go down and strangle Eden's annoying and chatty older sister with his bare hands.

If she hadn't opened her mouth just now, he fumed to himself, Eden wouldn't be retreating on him.

"Will you stop?"

Eden ignored him, continuing to walk. Faster, if she could manage it. She fumed to herself every step of the way and when she managed to trip over a root she didn't see because she wasn't paying attention, she settled on the ground and sat up, wincing in pain. "I swear to God..." she mumbled to herself.

Paul sat down next to her, nodding to her ankle. "Let me see it."

"I'm fine. Just go, alright? Can everyone just leave me alone?" Eden didn't mean to snap, but the weekend as a whole and the emotional rollercoaster was really taking it's toll on her by this point. Paul sat there, counting backwards from 10 to 1 just as Sam instructed him to do months ago when he kept losing it and phasing during fights he'd get into at school. It didn't help much but it did help him calm down just enough to sit and think. Tune himself into her mood and feelings and as soon as he realized just how upset she was and why she was so upset, he chuckled to himself quietly. "No."

Eden glanced over at him, a mixture of annoyance and wariness displayed in her eyes. "Look. You're the one who apparently told my sister you didn't want me around. You did whatever it was you were required to do this weekend. You really don't have to stay, alright? I get it. It's.. Look, I'm fine, alright?"

Wordlessly, Paul moved from the spot he sat in, planting himself at her feet. He picked up her foot, adjusting his grip when she winced a little as he placed her foot on his lap. Eden leaned back against the tree and started to laugh, the laughter a bitter sound as it came.

Paul stared up at her for a second or two before making the quiet observation, "None of this is funny, by the way."

"Don't you think I know this?" Eden asked, going quiet.

"You're the one who was just laughing."

"I was laughing at the irony. This is literally a perfect example of my luck." Eden mumbled before falling silent on him. Paul worked her foot out of her shoe and grimaced at the way her ankle was already starting to swell. "That's bad." he muttered as he glanced up at her. "Can you move your foot?"

"Enough to walk and get down this damn mountain, I hope." Eden mumbled, trying not to stare right back at him and failing at it for the millionth time. "If you want me to stay away, why are you even still here, hm?"

Paul's jaw tensed and he took a few long and slow and deep breaths. "When I said that, it was for your sake. Not mine."

"Why? I mean it's not like I don't already know you turn into a giant wolf."

Paul shrugged and remained silent.

"I know your secret. If it bothered me, I'd avoid you like I tend to avoid Edward and his family." Eden pointed out. Adding to it quietly, "If it bothered me, I wouldn't be sitting here assuming that you told my sister to keep me away strictly because I'm an annoyance."

Paul glanced up at her. "You're not." he made the statement as firmly as possible. "I told her to keep you away because I didn't want something to happen to you. I didn't wanna screw anything up. Not that it matters." he went quiet, glancing down at the angry swelling of her foot as he shook his head. "Look, if you'll just let me explain..."

Eden nodded. "Okay, fine. But can you explain while we walk? I'd really like to get the hell off this mountain and get somewhere to see what's going on with my foot."

Paul sprang up off the ground and leaned down, scooping her up in his arms. "Fine, but I'm carrying you. No arguments."

Eden grumbled, but chose not to argue.

Paul started to carry her down the mountain, heading towards his father's house on the reservation. "Where are you taking me. The path to my dad's is the opposite way."

"Your dad is at work. Your foot is not looking good. If I take you home, you'll be there by yourself and after all the shit that just happened, I'm.. Yeah, hard pass. I'm not leaving you there alone right now."

For a minute or two, silence took over and Paul mulled over exactly how much to tell her. By the time the reservation was in sight, he'd made up his mind. It didn't matter what Sam kept saying about picking the best time for both parties. Eden needed to know everything. She deserved to know. She deserved the chance to make her own choice.

Even if the choice she made was a choice that wound up leading him down a life of misery.

He stopped walking, sat down on a fallen tree, positioning her in his lap as best as he could.

"Paul?"

"Shh."

Eden bit her lip and tried to back up a little, give the poor guy some space. Instead of letting her move, his hands gripped hold of her hips, holding her in place and he gazed at her, waiting until she stopped moving around so much. Eden stopped moving and cleared her throat.

"I told Bella to keep you away a while back because you..."

"Yeah?" Eden muttered the word, staring at him intently, waiting. Her stomach churned and in the time it took him to start talking again, her mind formulated a thousand different -all bad, scenarios.

None of them were what came out of his mouth when he continued to speak.

"You're my imprint. And at the time, I thought I was saving you from being stuck. It was freaking me the fuck out, alright? I.. Look, when all this happened to me, I told myself I was going to fight the bond because my parents... Look, nothing is guaranteed."

Eden's mouth opened and closed, only to have nothing come out. She sat there wordless, brain frantically trying to process what Paul was telling her and then, it clicked. It really hadn't been anything to do with her, the way he acted or the fact that he told her sister to keep her away.

It had more to do with him.

"No, it's definitely not." Eden muttered quietly after seconds lingered between them filled with heavy silence that for Paul felt like a thousand lifetimes. His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest and almost as soon as he told her what he'd been keeping to himself and intending on continuing to do so, he was torn between relief and panic.

Relief because the secret was finally out and panic because now, Eden was the one with all the cards.

"Did you... Did you want to play bodyguard this weekend, then? Or did someone have to make you?"

"I wasn't letting that blood sucking asshole get you, alright? And he's not. Oh trust me, I made sure of that." Paul muttered as his eyes settled on massive hands for a moment and he went quiet. Eden sat there, her mind reeling. "So all that stuff about imprinting..."

"You're my imprint. Now you know." Paul shrugged, trying to pretend it didn't bother him one way or another.

"I'm... I mean, you don't even like me? I don't think so at least..." Eden tugged at the ends of her hair as she frowned to herself and tried to really wrap her head around what he'd just told her. She went back to their talk about imprinting the night before and as soon as she remembered what he said he felt about it now as opposed to when he first found out it would probably happen to him at some point, she gasped and bit her lip, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "Wait.. So you.. You're okay with this now? I mean, that's what you kind of said last night..."

" First of all, I never said I didn't like you. It's a lot, alright? If you don't.. Look, if you can't handle it..." Paul went quiet. Watching her like a hawk while she sat there trying to process and sort it out.

"It's not that. It's more or less the fact that you don't get a choice at all. Like I said last night. It's like I get all the choice and you get none. Kind of unfair." Eden answered after a minute or two. Paul chuckled quietly and shrugged. "I think the wolf side did okay, truth be told. I can't believe I just said that out loud. Fucking sappy." he shook his head at himself and went quiet.

"Paul, look at me." Eden muttered, reaching out to guide his jaw so that he had to look her in the eyes. "You're really okay with this? I mean.." she went quiet again for a second or two. And common sense be damned just this once, the only logical response to everything he'd told her and everything he'd said without saying was to do something, anything to reassure him. To show him that she wasn't disappointed somehow, because she was starting to realize that Paul Lahote wasn't as cocky as he made himself out to be, not even close.

When he did look up at her again, she scooted a little closer. Cautiously. Her face inching in closer to his. "Stop me if..." she muttered just as her lips made soft contact, brushing right up against his own. His hands squeezed her hips and he pulled her against him completely, capturing her mouth all over again just as she panicked and started to pull herself away, worried that she'd crossed a line. Her fingers threaded his hair, tugging at it as her legs locked around his waist. One of his hands caught in the ends of her long and soft locks, tugging and using his grip to pull her into the kiss even deeper. When the kiss broke, Eden rested her forehead against his and stared into his eyes for a few seconds. "We don't have to rush into it all. And if you ever change your mind about any of this, please just like... Tell me? I'm not going to hold you down or anything. That's the only way I'm okay with it. You choose what happens, alright? Not me, not the wolf side.. You. If you're ever not happy..."

Paul's jaw dropped.

"Wait.."

"Why do you think it bothered me so much that me even being near you annoyed the living hell out of you, huh? I.. I really like you, okay? A lot. And yes, it's scary. Especially in light of what we've been caught in the middle of. But we don't have to be that way.. We can be smarter about it."

Paul gave a smirk as he licked his lips and his eyes settled on the way her lips were left swollen and a deep shade of pink from that first kiss he'd given her. "You like me, huh?"

Eden poked out her tongue at him. "I said it, didn't I?" she muttered quietly, laughing and shaking her head. "We just won't think about everything. Let whatever happens, happen.. Okay?"

Paul nodded and stood, chuckling quietly. "Fine with me. I'm gonna take you to my dad's place. We'll look at your ankle. Make sure you didn't break your damn foot."

Eden nodded, leaning against him just a little less cautiously, the warmth of his body enveloping her and making her smile to herself a little as she buried her face between his neck and shoulders. "Oh, knowing my luck, pretty sure it's fractured or sprained badly."

"This kinda stuff happens a lot then, hm?"

"I can trip and fall going up a flight of stairs, man. It's fucking ridiculous."

"Noted." Paul muttered, walking towards his father's house.

[ post script ] EEEE! Oh my gosh oh my gosh, thank you so much! I can't wait to read the next part of The Life of Rosalie Hale, MysteryFan1997! I'm loving it, okay? I'm really, really, really, really emphatically loving it. And a huge hug to QueenOfGoodbyes and NinaBacini also yes agreed I will try to keep Paul away from trees going forward! I love you guys so much all of you!

Also huge thanks to every single person who is reading and took the time to leave a comment you guys have me all teary eyed over here I s2g! Oh yeah and a huge thanks to everyone favoriting and following im blown away!