The Normal Life
By Didi

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that are recognizable and I certainly don't own the show. Don't sue me cause all you're going to get is lent, and not much of that either.

Summery: Life is hard enough as a teen without in the problems of being wolf. Sequel to "Eyes of Brown... or is it Green," kind of.

Timeline: Hum...this is a toughie. Okay, Eyes was written after the cancellation of Wolf Lake from CBS. I had assumed that it was never coming back again so I can do whatever I wanted with the story without interfering with the show's canon.

Acknowledgement: Hooray for the return of Wolf Lake!!! Thank you UPN for your wonderful taste in programming. And thanks to everyone that read my first Wolf Lake fan fiction. I hope you all like this one too.

Rating: R for restricted under 17.

Note: When I started Eyes, I didn't know that name of the blonde Luke was sleeping with so I named her Brittany. Since then, I've learned that her name is Presley. But for story continuality, we're going to call her Brittany.
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-Vivian's POV-

He is very much like his father, though he does at time remind me too much of myself at his age. Perhaps it is because he reminds me of me that I worry so for him. I was a rather impulsive and arrogant youth, too many mistakes made that way. The biggest one may be not seeing the threat Marie Jankins... Marie Donner had been to my future.

Sixteen years and I still can't seem to remember that she is... was... always will be Mrs. Matthew Donner. Hum... Even now, I still don't see it. Matt could have had it all: the clan, the leadership, the power... me. Yet he turned his back on everything to be with her.

My mother once told me that love was very strange and very difficult to understand. But then my mother always viewed the world as a big chess game, always looking to see where to put herself so that she may have the utmost advantage on everyone else. She was never above using her own sexuality and appeal to gain what she wanted. Love was merely another tool for her to wield at will. God, I hope never end up to be as cold as she.

There are moments when I fear that I am coldhearted, but then I look at Luke, I look at Matt, I look at Willard... and I know that I'm not. Willard. God, the man is Alpha yet he looks at me as if I'm ... as I'm something more than he. It humbles me to know that. Humbles me to know that he loves me, even now when he's pain is so great and the time of his life draws near the end, he humbles me with his devotion.

Luke is like that sometimes, loves more than he can explain, can handle. That's what I fear most about him, that he would lose his heart too quickly as I did. God knows that I can understand the kind of heartache one carries when they love too deeply and cannot let go. Even now....

"V?" I turned and look at my husband.

Even now, with everything his body is putting him through, he looks every bit the Alpha he had been years before. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he smiled at me, that soft smile that spoke of his love for me. "You were just looking so pensive that I thought I would come cheer you up."

Returning the smile, I walked into his arms. "I was just thinking of Luke."

He sighed with more amusement than exasperation. "What did our little cub do this time?"

I wanted to laugh. When it came to his children, Willard can tolerate almost anything from them. Besides which, I believe he rather enjoyed some of Luke's more outrageous stunts: possibility because it reminded him much of his own wild youth. "Your son has created an enemy of our town Sheriff."

"Donner?" Those ice blue eyes narrowed for a moment. Even he recognized the danger Matthew Donner posed, even after all these years. They were friends at one time, and some would say that they still are, but they have never made it a secret that the mutual respect that exists between them is completely fair game when their family is involved. As Alpha, Willard has the advantage. But Matt still holds much sway and his loyalists have never wavered. "What happened?"

Here's where the egos of proud papas may come to head. "Rumors are rampant that Luke has proclaimed his mate."

Surprise came then followed quickly by amusement. "Well that was quick. But then I always suspected that our son has a rather impulsive streak in him though I had wished that he would have picked someone with a bit more intelligence than Brittany?" The confusion came a second later. "What does Donner have to do with Luke's pick of mate?"

It sometimes amazes me how completely oblivious men can be when it comes to the affairs of the heart. "Perhaps it has something to do with that fact that Luke is not as intellectually challenged in his choice of mates as you would believe him to be."

"He didn't choice the curly blonde?"

I shook my head, waiting for it.

The minute it hit, Willard's face resembled something akin to deer on the headlights. "Sophia Donner?"

I wonder if I look as amused by the look on his face as I feel. "Are you really that surprised? Our boy has never really made his fascination with her a secret. Everyone knows that he watches her like a hawk does a field mice. Why would it come as a shock that he would choose her as mate?"

"Yes but I had assume..." Willard shook his head. The disturbed look in his eyes was well felt. I knew that it concerned him, Luke's choice, but I can't really say that I was unhappy with the decision. But Willard had other things to consider. "I intend for Luke to one day run the pack, if he was to choose a human as mate..."

"But Sophia is not human," I had to point out. "She is Matthew Donner's daughter."

He nodded, accepting that but there was something in his eyes when I mentioned Donner's name. After all these years, he still hasn't forgotten that I chose Matt first. "She may never turn."

"Perhaps," I acknowledged. "But I don't think that matters to Luke." I watched him, waiting. "Were it to be you, would you?"

"If it is love," he shook his head. "No, I don't suppose it would." He gave a rather enigmatic smile. "It certainly didn't matter to Donner."

How can I possibly forget that? "Donner will be out for our son's blood once he learns of this."

"Yes," the amusement on his face did not bode well. "But Donner will do nothing."

"Really?" now there was a surprise. I had thought Willard wiser than this. "When one's young is threatened, a parent will do just about anything to protect its offspring."

"Yes, but Donner is also an honorable and just man." The touch of respect was there grudgingly. "He will do Luke no harm so long as Luke remembers not to do anything stupid."

I agreed wholeheartedly. Donner's honor as never in question, there is no doubt in my mind that he would do the right thing. On the other hand... "This is Luke we're talking about. When has a hormonally charged teenage boy been rational where the affairs of the heart is concerned? Much less your son?"

He frowned. "Oh boy. There's going to be trouble."

I couldn't agree more.
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-Donner's POV-

It's been almost sixteen years since I last turned and more than that since I felt the urge to hunt. But today, I came about as close to tearing someone's head off as I have in all my life. The insanity of it is, there really was nothing I or anyone else can do about this until it's too late. There are moments when I think someone up there is really testing my patience.

"Sheriff?" Molly, my deputy, was looking at me with troubled eyes. I have a feeling that while most of my emotions are well hidden, there are certain things that I probably can't hide right now, even if my life depended upon it. Like the need to bury Lucas Cates six feet under and as far away from my daughter as humanly possible.

"What is it?"

"Kanin is sniffing around the Ashton's Field again. Should I go keep an eye on him?" She looked only a little too eager to keep our new recruit company.

"Yeah, keep an eye on him," I nodded her toward the door but stopped her with a serious warning. "But remember who he technically belong to, Molly. It's not wise to cross her."

"Like I'd be stupid enough to mess with the Cates," she made a face than pushed the door open. "But it doesn't mean I don't get to check out our new guy." The grin was teasing and her eyes flash with fun. Oh to be young again.

"Sheriff." The voice made me wince slightly. Why? I'm not all too sure of. But there is something about Sherman Blackstone that always reminded me of getting caught with my feet up on the sofa by my mother. Perhaps it was the wisdom in the man's eyes, though you could hardly tell by the way he speaks.

"Sherman? What can I do for you?"

The man had a grin that just made the fine hair at the nape of my neck stand on end. The look in his eyes says that he knew something I didn't but should know. The question was whether or not he was going to tell me. "How is your daughter?"

That really got the chills going. "She's doing fine."

I swear if he didn't stop smiling at me like that, I was going to do some real damage to that face of his. "I guess you heard the news."

"Rumors," I didn't even try to pretend not knowing, it was pointless. Wolf Lake was not a big town, but it hide is secrets well, though some things are about as normal as any small town like would be, such as the speed of juicy gossip. "They are merely rumors that have no basis and certainly no..."

"He made it pretty public last night."

Now that part I didn't hear about. "What did he do?"

"Pretty much what any young cub would do to mark his territory," the grin was really getting to me. And wise as he may be, Sherman was really lousy at reading all the subtle body signals people generally radiate at this point. I don't doubt that he knew that I was pissed off, yet he still kept at it. But then, he could just be doing this to irritate me. "But that's not why I'm here."

"Why are you here?" Glad to be off the subject of my daughter's impending brush with the town's golden bad boy.

"Like I asked earlier, how is your daughter?" This time it was asked with a certain degree of seriousness that made me pay attention in a way that I hadn't before. The old coot was trying to tell me something without breaking his code as the Keeper. If nothing else, he knew who his friends are and where he can pass things onto when needed.

There was a moment of silence as I struggled to answer the question. It wasn't the question that was difficult for Sophia has always had a healthy disposition, even as a pre-mature infant. She has always been healthy if not always happy. There has to be something else to the question that I'm not seeing quite yet.

It wasn't until I looked to see Sherman watch me with those dark eyes that were so deep that they almost gleam in their richness of color. Then it hit me harder than it should have.

I should have suspected, should have been watching for it.

I wasn't naïve enough to think that this has anything to do with Sophia's schoolwork; my girl gets straight A's in school. No this is more, much more than Luke Cates and the pack. Much more than any foolish teenage proclamation that happens once every blue moon, granted it was a little more when it came from the heir apparent to the Alpha. This was something else, something I feared for more than sixteen years now. And Sherman knew it.

"Oh god," my little girl was changing.