. . . Sweet Dreams -By Yo-yo

Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf Lake, but that's what I tell the nice men who bundle me in the pretty white jacket and take me to the magical room with the padded walls! Hee hee! Hey, there goes 2-Pac, Elvis and Alliyah! Man, if only I were allowed a pen, I would so get their autographs! o^_^o

A/N: I guess I should comment on my last chappie b/c I got a couple of comments on that one. Ppl said that Sophia was acting out of character then b/c of the way she explained her feelings to Luke, or didn't, I'll have to re-read it to remember if she actually told him how she "felt". Uh, but the thing is, Sophia actually wasn't acting out of character, she was acting out of fear. She didn't even care about the whole being in the center crowd thingy, she was rationalizing. She had no real reason to doubt Luke; he hadn't cheated on her since the incident w/ Prestly, he was constantly there for her, and he told her that he felt something very strongly for her.

Love scares some people and Sophia needed something to blame her doubt on. She doesn't know what to do with it. She isn't even sure of her own status w/ Luke, they haven't even decided if they wanted to be bf and gf yet. They're un-labelable and unsure yet of what's even happening. She doesn't know if she wants to be with him the way that Vivian put it, and she's scared that Luke thinks she does. She doesn't want to hurt his feelings, but she's lost.

Her whole inner-speech about not being like them and not wanting to be in that crowd was all rationalization. She's trying to convince herself that that's the real reason she's running away from him. That his being the Alpha is the real reason why she can't be with him; too afraid to admit that the reason that she can't be with him is b/c she's so in love with him that she's afraid to be with him. ULTIMATE ROWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRING WOLF LAKE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



. . . Sweet Dreams XV:



Patting down the perfect curls, she studied herself in the mirror.

It had been two weeks.

Two weeks since the floodgates had opened. Two weeks since the mourning had begun. Two weeks since the pain of his death had crashed down on her perfect world and shattered it into a million jagged pieces. It'd taken her tow weeks to gather each wretched slice, determined to move past it no matter how swollen her fingers became and how deep the tiny shards cut into her flesh.

After two weeks of being lost in the deep fog of that night, she'd finally resurfaced, seeing the light of day. She was finally ready to take on the responsibility of Alpha. She was ready to lead the Pack out of the darkness, towards the new day, where the unfailing moon would eradicate their fears of the night.

Smoothing out the minute wrinkle in her lavender blouse, she smiled at her reflection. No matter how wide her eyes looked outlined in the dark pencil, or how tantalizing her lips looked painted in the red lipstick, her eyes were still unusually faded and transparent as they stared back at her. her lips were still curled up into an awkward smile that didn't quite reach those blank eyes.

Placing her keys in her purse, she departed from the reflection and wrapped a sweater around her shoulders. Grabbing her cell phone from the table, she exited the house.

Entering the sleek black Mercedes, she placed her hands at ten and two and mentally prepared herself for the trails of the day. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she ignited the ignition. Turning her body to peer behind her, she carefully backed out of the driveway.

~***~

Wendy Snow . . . born July 9, 1975 . . . died December 8, 1990 . . .

Marco Chico . . . born April 16, 1915 . . . died May 12, 1932 . . .

Anthony Edwards . . . born September 2, 1965 . . . died January 15, 1978 . . .

Brandon Phillips . . . born October 8, 1919 . . . died March 11, 1934 . . .

Jaclyn Smith . . . born February 14, 1985 . . . died February 15, 2001 . . .

The gentle breeze whispered past her, carefully cradling her in it's cool arms on such a warm day, comforting her. Her long wisps of hair lifted gently and fluttered around her like butterflies.

It was the perfect day, way too perfect to be cooped up in a stuffy classroom filled with boisterous teenagers.

And here she sat, on the warm grass, studying the large grey slabs, wondering if this too were her fate. There were so many of them, like her, yet not like her. they too were destined to live out their adult life in pelt. they too were destined to run under the moon and stars and hunt from the plentiful earth. They too were destined to howl at the full moon, praising her beauty and eminence. They too were destined to mate with those of their kind and dance with their pups at night. They too were supposed to live the perpetual life of the wolf, and pass on the legacy of their people, but they didn't make it.

Only the strongest made it. It was Darwin's theory of natural selection- only the strongest survived- and these had not.

The dates on the dismal stones ranged from the ages of thirteen years to seventeen- only one eighteen.

It was her last year to Change, and she knew it was rapidly approaching. The last two weeks had been horrible. Even with Luke lying beside her, soothingly messaging her abdominal muscles, the pain intensified every night, sometimes making her cry out with tears in her eyes. She'd tried those new heated pad designed to calm the cramps during menstruation cycles, but they did nothing but increased the degree of heat that scorched her sweat drenched skin. She'd stayed up the last couple of nights, letting Luke try to soothe her with his sweet words and luscious lips, but nothing worked. Her body was getting closer and closer to the inevitable Change, and nothing now could subside the symptoms.

"Where do we go?/ Nobody knows,/ I've got to say,/ I'm on my way . . . down,/ God give me style and give me grace,/ God put a smile upon ma' face . . ./ Where do we go to draw the line?/ I've got to say I've wasted all- your time . . . honey honey . . ./ Where do I go to fall from grace?/ God put a smile upon your face . . ."

Coldplay's words swam in her head as she wondered what had brought her away from the mundane ritual of a boring day of school to this small hill, overlooking the hundreds of teenagers who'd once wondered the same thing.

They were the same as she, destined to be a wolf, and sadly, they were all different. They may have died becoming a wolf, but at the most they suffered from the symptoms for maybe two weeks, not two months. They didn't have to endure the excruciating pain of their insides being ripped apart because the human in them couldn't accommodate the wolf. Their bodies had been quip for this type of transformation since they were in the womb, and yet hers didn't know how to react to the foreign pieces of DNA.

What if she didn't make it? How would her father react when he realized it was his DNA mixed with her mother's that had weakened her fight against the wolf and was the cause of her demise? How would he live with himself? Would he blame himself . . . her . . . Luke?

Pushing her hair out of her face, she brought her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees as she peered out over the vast expanse of land, reserved for the dead.

~***~

*Where in the Hell was she?* he groaned.

Searching through the multitude of hormone ridden teens, he hadn't spotted her at all today.

He'd asked her best friend Jamie where she was, but the small little Ungulate just glared at him and turned her back. The dirty look that she gave him almost chilled his spine. He'd tried asking other of her Ungulate friends, but they answered him with the same bone tingling glare.

They were mad at her, but why, he didn't care to find out.

"Mr. Cates?"

"Huh?" he asked, his green eyes wide as he broke from his silent reverie.

"Could you please answer the question?"

"What's the question again Professor Long?"

"Why won't the water overflow if the glass was filled to the brim with ice water?"

"Because water is the only substance whose molecules actually contract when heated and expand when frozen. Therefore, the water molecules will move closer together and the water won't spill over the edge."

"Right," Professor Long smiled turning back to the rest of the class.

After the bell rang, letting out the class period, he exited the school from the front doors and made his way towards the Donner's residence.

~***~

Carefully maneuvering the car through traffic, she skillfully made her way towards her destination. Driving down the familiar road, she felt her skin jump at the strident scream of her cell phone.

Bringing the car to a complete stop at the red light, she flipped open the diminutive device and answered,

"Hello, Vivian Cates speaking."

"Hello Mrs. Cates, this is Wolf Lake High School calling to inform you about Mr. Lucas Cates . . ."

*What did he do this time?*

" . . . Mrs. Cates, we realized that your family has just gone through a devastating loss, but I was calling to inform you that we have rules that all parents are expected to follow . . . without fail. If Lucas is going to be missing class you must sign out with the office on that day. If you do not, Lucas will be labeled as skipping school and will have a week's detention, including a Saturday."

Sighing, she placed her left hand on the wheel and smoothly accelerated as she listened to the crisp voice on the other end.

"I'm sorry Ms. Um . . ."

"Ms. Emery," she offered.

"I'm sorry Ms. Emery. Luke called me telling me he didn't feel good this morning, so I picked him up from outside. I'm sorry I didn't sign him out on the office, but I was late for a meeting, and didn't even think to go in. I'm sorry," she replied making a U-turn.

"By any chance will you be calling Sheriff Donner about Sophia's absence also?" she asked curtly as she began on her new objective, the Wolf Lake Sheriff's Department.

This was going to have to stop. And now!

"Yes actually," the lady answered, her voice lighter as she realized that Mrs. Cates knew of the matter.

"Well it seems I've been particularly bad at remembering my obligations this morning," Vivian began with a light lift to her own voice in mock delight, "I was supposed to call in and report that Sophia would not be entering today because of some bug. It seems the same thing that Luke seems to have caught. Sheriff Donner has been on the night shift for the past two weeks, and actually today he'll be there all day so he couldn't call, he'd asked me to do it for him."

"Well thank you Mrs. Cates, just tell Sheriff Donner to send in a signed note with Sophia tomorrow morning and everything will be fine."

"Thank you Ms. Emery for calling. Have a nice day."

"You too Mrs. Cates, goodbye," she smiled before hanging up the phone.

Folding the tiny piece of plastic, she tossed it into the passengers seat and sped towards the Sheriff's Department.

For the last month and a half she had to deal with the deceit of looking Matthew Donner in the eyes and not telling him the most important thing in his own daughter's life. For a month and a half she had to carry the weight of this news without telling anyone because Sophia wanted to tell her Dad first. For a month she'd sat on her own conscience and not told him anything, giving his daughter an ample amount of time to reveal herself . . . but she was too late. She'd taken too much time, and now the truth had to be revealed.

The past two weeks were pure Hell for Vivian. She knew where Luke went late at night after he snuck out of his bedroom window. She knew from where he'd returned every morning with an exhausted look sketching his features. And she knew where he was now: skipping a day of school to be with her.

Screeching to a halt in front of the small building, she turned off the car and gathered her belongings. Exiting the car, she clicked on the alarm and proceeded towards the front doors of the building.

~***~

"How did you find me?" she whispered as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders protectively.

"I followed my nose . . ." after a moments pause, he added, "Now don't I sound like the pelican from the Fruit Loops commercial?"

"Yeah," she sighed leaning back in his arms.

A few moments of silence followed where they both gazed around them. Finally,

"What brought you here?"

"I'm not sure," she sighed again, "I feel really exhausted, and I just . . . I don't know . . ."

"Does he know yet?" he whispered placing a few kisses in her hair.

"He does now," she sighed slumping against him and closing her eyes.

They sat like that in complete silence for a couple of moments. Finally after too much silence he untangled himself from the sitting position, lifted himself up, and looked down at her.

"What are you doing?"

"C'mon," he said putting out her hand in order to help her up.

"What?"

"C'mon, I want to show you something," he smiled when she'd finally accepted and stood up.

Walking to the Jeep, he helped her into the passenger's seat before he walked to the other side and got in.

"Man this is different from the last time I got in here. Last time you practically threw me in."

"Yeah well if I didn't, you would have."

Driving along the deserted road, he twisted and turned expertly along the familiar road. He drove so smoothly that it was as if they weren't on road at all, instead on some fluffy white clouds, flying through the air.

Finally once into a secret passage of the forest, he stopped under a large brush of trees.

"Luke?" she whispered turning to look him in the eye.

"This place helps me to cool down. It's a good place to just think sometimes, and I thought maybe it would do the same for you."

"Thanks," she whispered, the poetic silence of the place finally catching up to her, making her afraid to disrupt the spell.

~***~

"Look Donner, I love your kid like my own, but she's got to shape up. I've tried to keep this in, I've tried not to let this get to me, but it's just taking too long. She must accept her responsibilities."

"What are you talking about?" he asked standing up from his seat and leading Vivian away from his associates and pulled her into his office.

"Sophia. Do you remember the last time that she was at my house? The first time actually, when she spent the night-"

"You knew!? She told me you didn't know she was there!"

"God Matt, how dumb can you be? How can I not know that she wasn't?"

"She is so gunna' pay for this," he groaned, his mind reeling.

"Ya' wanna' know the reason why she can't sleep, and has been so sick lately? She isn't stressed out, she doesn't have a bug, and she doesn't have whatever else BS she told you . . . Sophia's pregnant, and Luke's the father."

"What?!" Donner exploded, his eyes flashing yellow as he felt his nails lengthen and his teeth sharpen. This was the last time he'd been so close to Changing was when Marie was killed.

"Where in the hell is he?" Donner sneered, his eyes burning holes through Vivian.

His flashing eyes didn't intimidate her, instead hers were burning His.

"He's with her, they both skipped school today."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No idea," she sighed finally looking away.

"I'm leaving," he groaned grabbing his jacket from behind her and exiting the room.

"What are you going to do?"

"What must be done," he growled before slamming the door of the building.

"Don't hurt her," she whispered, "He loves her."

~***~

"Thanks Luke, I had a great time," she smiled placing a kiss to his cheek and turning towards home.

"See ya' tomorrow," he smiled from the car.

"Yea, if my Dad doesn't kill me first," she smiles, but then it turns to a frown, it's too close to the truth.

"Bye," she whispered walking up the walkway to the front door.

Fumbling with her keys, she finally opened the front door and entered the house. Walking into the sitting room, she caught a strange sight. Sitting in the laz-e-boy with a dangerous look on his face sat her father with a cigarette between his lips and a butt in an ashtray beside him.

"Hi Dad-" she said before she saw his eyes flash liquid gold . . .

TBC . . .

A/N: hey, so how do you like 'dem apples? R&R pweez!