Chapter 20 The Day After

Lucas stood at the refrigerator in the Donner residence looking for something to have for breakfast when there was a knock on the door. He could sense his mother standing outside as he slipped back into his jeans and opened the door.

Vivian had received a call from her son a few hours ago and now stood with a duffel bag of his clothing as well as a few other necessities. In one arm she also held a bag of groceries. As she stepped inside she noticed the general disarray of the house and she had a pretty good idea of how it got that way.

"I hope you clean this place up before Matt comes back," she told her son. "The poor man is having a hard time with this as it is."

"You've seen him?" Lucas asked as he took the bag of groceries from his mother and went into the kitchen with her following him.

"Molly called from the station this morning. Seems that our Sheriff spent the night in the empty holding cell with a bottle of Jack Daniels," Vivian said as she started a pot of coffee. "Honestly Lucas, did you have to throw him out of his own home last night?"

"I did no such thing! He decided to leave on his own!" Lucas defended himself.

"Well you couldn't very well expect him to stick around and listen to you two. Where is Sophia?"

"She's in the shower," replied Lucas. "Do you think I should bring her over to our house? Then the Sheriff could have his place back."

"No, I think I have a better idea. You two stay here and I'll ask Matt to come stay in the guest room at the mansion," Vivian mused. Perhaps this situation may work to her advantage, Vivian thought. "Are you planning on taking the whole week off from school then and stay with Sophia?"

"Yeah, I am. Just tell the school we have mono or something," Lucas smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that," Vivian promised. "Lucas, I wanted you to know that I'm really happy with your choice of mate. Sophia is intelligent and compassionate and I think she'll be a great asset to you as Alpha. Make sure you don't mess things up between you two like Tyler did with Ruby."

"You don't have to worry about that mom, I'm nothing like Tyler," said Lucas as he watched his mom pour the whole pot off coffee into a thermos, intending to take it to Matt. "Hey, aren't you going to leave any of that for us?"

Vivian gave her son a pointed look, "I'm sure you two can take a break from your little honeymoon to make a pot of coffee." She walked past him towards the front door, noticing the clawed up sofa. She stopped and sighed, looking at the destruction. "I'll call someone to come over and repair that. Try to be more considerate of Matt's home Lucas."

"Sure mom," Lucas kissed her on the cheek and smiled. Vivian shook her head and left the love nest.

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Presley stood at her locker between classes, shoving her books around and feeling embarrassed every time she felt the others look at her. Everyone seemed to be avoiding her today, even Krissy and Dawn hurried off in the opposite direction when she arrived at school. She had been knocked out of her position as lead female and even though Lucas did not officially say so yet, because he was absent today, she may even be shunned. Everyone seemed to be treating her as if it were so.

It was the last period of the day and she made her way over to Sherman Blackstone's class, spotting Sean and Randy talking in the hallway nearby. She felt determined that they should talk to her. She just had to know! She walked up to them and they turned to face her.

"I need to know. Am I shunned or not?" she straight out asked Sean.

"I don't know Presley. Lucas hasn't said anything about it yet," he answered.

"Well, can you find out for me?" she persisted.

"Yeah, next time I get a chance to ask, I will," Sean said. Sean walked off towards class, leaving her with Randy.

Presley looked at Randy who still stood there looking at her. "Well, aren't you going to run away from me too?" she snapped.

"If you get shunned Pres, they're going to have to shun me too," Randy said seriously. Presley looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"Why would you want that?" she asked.

"Cause then I could have you all to myself," he smiled.

"How can you joke about something like that?" she said, miffed at him now.

The smile left his face. "I'm not joking Pres. I've always wanted you more than I've ever wanted anyone else. But you were always too busy chasing after Lucas to notice." Randy left her standing in the hallway, staring in confusion.

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Later that afternoon, Scott was walking slowly by the police station wondering if he should do what he came here to do. He stopped and gazed through the window and saw the Sheriff inside, sitting at a desk. He fought an inner battle of whether or not he should go in and speak to Mathew Donner. He was Sophia's father and he had a right to know that his daughter may be in danger. He built up his courage and went in.

The tired Sheriff looked up from his paperwork and noticed Scott looking at him with a worried frown. "Hello Scott, can I help you with something?" Matt asked.

"I need to talk to you about something private Sheriff," Scott said, glancing at Kanin sitting at his desk on the phone.

Matt stood up and said, "Come on back to my office." Scott followed him into the office and the Sheriff shut the door for privacy. "Now, tell me what's on your mind," Matt said as he sat down behind his desk and Scott took a seat across from him.

Scott didn't know how he was supposed to speak about this without seeming like some kind of lunatic. He shifted in his seat nervously. He wouldn't be the first Wolf Lake resident to be shipped out to a mental hospital. For some reason, that seemed to happen a lot around here.

"Well, sir… I'm worried about Sophia," he began, noticing now the concern on the Sheriff's face.

"What about Sophia?" Matt asked.

"I've noticed that… well… Lucas Cates has been… I don't know…" he stumbled with his words.

Matt squinted his eyes, trying to figure out what Scott was about. "What about Lucas Cates?"

"Well… yesterday… he got all pissed about me talking to Sophia."

"Did he hurt you?" Matt asked.

"More like threatened me. But that wasn't the worst part," Scott said, starting to get to the heart of the matter.

"Tell me."

"There is something… different about him. I don't know, it's like he's very strong and well… something else." Scott knew that if he said Lucas had fangs and claws that the Sheriff might cuff him and call county mental. He decided not to tell him that part. "Anyways, I just kind of think that Sophia may be in trouble, hanging out with a guy like that."

Mathew could see exactly what happen from the images in Scott's mind. Lucas had been careless and shown more than he should have. This could be a problem if Scott decided to spread rumors. Not that there were no humans in town that knew about strange things happening. But they also knew to keep their mouths shut because they all saw what happened to those that didn't.

"I think that when we are frightened, we tend to see things that aren't necessarily there," Matt explained. "You haven't been doing drugs or drinking have you?"

"No sir! I do drink occasionally, but I don't touch drugs. I know I didn't drink anything yesterday," Scott defended himself.

"Hmm… well… ," Mathew faked a disbelieving look. He hated making Scott feel like he didn't believe him, but it was necessary if he should ever have to take it to the next step.

Scott couldn't believe it! The Sheriff was treating him like he was lying! He started to feel that it was a mistake to come here.

Mathew stood up and opened the door. "It's nice of you to be concerned about Sophia, but I don't think there is anything to worry about. Thanks for stopping by."

Scott stood up and looked at the Sheriff, trying to figure out why he was not more concerned about his daughter. He couldn't believe that the Sheriff would dismiss him like this and practically accuse him of being drunk or on drugs. He had never been in trouble with the law before and could not think of a reason why the Sheriff would treat him this way. He walked slowly past Matt and out the door, confusion written clearly on his face.

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Sophia lay stretching on her bed, a contented smile on her face as she turned to her side and watched Lucas sleep. It was only early evening but it felt like time had no meaning to either of them. They had spent the whole night and day doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. They ate, slept, made love, talked, watched T.V. with no set schedule and no interruptions.

Sophia could not believe how happy she was. She felt blissfully content and so totally in love. She ran her fingers over Lucas's back and watched a smile form on his sleeping face. "I love you…" she softly told him.

She knew she had been demanding of physical intimacy since Lucas had arrived but she couldn't help it. Her body was going crazy. Now she was feeling much better as the first wave of hormones seemed to settle a bit. She smiled to think that she had exhausted Lucas and he was now taking what rest he could before her needs kicked in again.

She now felt a bit of guilt towards how she treated her father last night and she wondered how he was doing. She could barely believe that Lucas had permission to be here, making love to her like crazy, with her father's knowledge! It all seemed so unreal! She decided that this would be a good time to give her Dad a call.

Sophia made her way downstairs and looked around at the mess they had made of the house. She blushed thinking about all the wild and crazy things they did and could hardly believe it had all happened. She had no idea that there were so many ways to make love and took delight each time Lucas showed her something new. Where he had learned all of that, she really didn't want to know. The past is the past, she told herself.

She dialed her Dad's cell phone number.

"Donner here," her Dad said.

"Hi Dad, it's me," Sophia said softly.

"Sophia? Hi honey, is everything all right?" Matt was happy that she called. He was worried that she would still be angry with him for some reason.

"Yeah, I'm better right now," she said awkwardly. "Sorry I was such a pain in the butt last night Dad."

"I know your going through a tough time sweetie." There was an awkward pause as they did not know how to talk about this subject. "Is… Lucas still there?"

"Yeah… you need to speak to him?"

"No, I was just wondering. Vivian has offered to put me up at her place until… well… until…"

"I know Dad. I'm sorry you feel you have to leave. I feel bad about that. This whole thing feels so crazy, you know."

"Yeah, I do know," Matt agreed. "I'm going to come by in a few hours and pick up some things to wear. Can I bring you anything? Pizza, chicken?"

"Chicken sounds good. Thanks Dad. I'll see you in a few."

"O.K. sweetie. I'll call right before I come by."

Sophia hung up the phone and looked around the house again. Oh jeez! Her Dad is coming tonight and the house is a mess! She quickly got to work setting it to rights.

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