/I am so sorry about the super long wait. Things have been crazy here. I'm hoping to get back to a schedule shortly. Until then, it's whatever I can get written and posted.

By the time I arrived at Jake's, the rain had gotten harder. Just going from the car to the door had me soaked. Angela decided to head over to see Vanessa, the only other girl in the pack, and stay the night because it was far too dangerous to drive the long road back to Forks especially with the cell phone dead zone.
I knocked on the door and was surprised when Beth answered.
"Hello, Bella. It's so good to see you. What are you doing out in this weather?"
"Hi, Beth. I wasn't expecting all of this rain. I guess I need to keep a better eye on the forecast. We're lucky we didn't hit this on the highway coming back from Seattle. I was hoping to catch Jake before he heads in to work, and give Sam and Leah a bit of time alone to talk."
"Ah, yes, the Emily situation. Billy filled me in while you were gone. Billy's gone to pick Jake up, by the way. He'll be coming home for a few minutes but he usually only stays long enough to grab some food then leaves for work. I'm sure Billy will have no problems with you staying though.."
This is why I loved Beth. She was perceptive and extremely kind. I was so happy for Billy, and for Jake. I went to change out of my wet clothes and came back wearing some extra clothing I had left in the twins old room.
"Did you need any help with dinner?" I asked when I came back out.
"That's kind of you but I actually already have the lasagna Jake prepared yesterday in the oven."
"Jake made lasagna?" I couldn't believe my ears. Jake was definitely not the cooking type. I wondered why he would do that but I felt I already knew. Months without his favorite cook around must have left him with minimal food options so he learned to cook. How the two of them managed to stay alive before I moved back to Forks, I'd never know.
"I know, it's incredible. He made a roast chicken the night before last." Beth went on to tell me about all of the sides Jake had included in the very delicious home cooked meal the night we headed to Seattle. Jake sounded like he really knew what he was doing and almost enjoyed it. I didn't realise it at first but I was very proud of him. Neither of us fell apart when we weren't together which also made me proud of myself. Last year I was a completely different person.
Before I knew, the front door opened up and Jake rushed inside behind his father. In my mind I pictured Jake shaking off to remove the water like a dog would and giggled to myself. His superior hearing of course heard the giggle and his eyes instantly met mine. I was overcome with peace as I looked at my soul mate for the first time in days.
"Bells." He breathed out, like he was a dehydrated man in a desert and I was an oasis. The smile that appeared on his face was huge and child-like.
"Hey, miss me?" My smile matched his own as he seemed torn between coming to me and changing out of his soaked clothing.
"Nah." He joked, winking at me. "I… let me change?" I nodded and he walked off to get dry. When he returned, I was surprised he was wearing a shirt. I expected him to come over to me but instead he checked on the lasagna and gave Beth a quick kiss on the cheek, quietly saying "Thank you."
Jake came over to me next and cupped a hand against my cheek. "I hate when you aren't around." His lips twitched ever so slightly before meeting my own. He pulled away far too soon.
I watched Jake as he moved about the kitchen, realising we hadn't done many normal relationship things in forever, and enjoyed the view of life without vampires terrorizing us. Jake took a container out of the fridge and placed it on the table next to me.
"I have to go to work. Will you be here when I get back?"
"Of course, but, how can you go to work in this storm? Who would even bring their car in today?"
"Actually the car I'm working on has been there all weekend. It broke down and we were waiting on a part to arrive. I shouldn't be long." Jake gave me another quick kiss, said bye and drove away in the Rabbit. He struggled getting in but it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. Jake still planned to sell it despite his love for it, especially since joining with Taha Aki and having yet another growth spurt, but it was all he could drive until he found something better.
When dinner was close to being finished, I spread garlic butter, mozzarella and fresh parmesan over a loaf that had been cut lengthwise, then tossed it into the oven when the lasagna was removed, just long enough to toast and melt the cheese. By the time dinner was served, Jake was already walking through the front door. Once again he changed into some dry clothes before sitting down to eat.
"What'd I miss?" He asked, grabbing a piece of the garlic bread.
"Not much." Billy gestured toward the TV which hadn't worked right since the previous storm took out the power lines. "Still can't figure out what's wrong with it. Harry said his is working fine and we use the same company."
"I'll take a look tomorrow after school. No work, might as well make myself useful."
It was the best, yet most foreign feeling in the world to experience normal everyday life on the reservation. Specifically when it came to Jake. I was used to it with many of the other pack members, but having spent so much time away from Jake, it almost didn't feel real. Sort of a "too good to be true" sort of situation. What horrible big bad evil would life throw our way now that things had settled down?
I decided not to let those feelings and fears infiltrate my mind. I would go with what I knew and what I knew was that life was pretty normal for the most part, and I was happy. I made a vow to myself to soak up every minute of it.
Right when I was enjoying normalcy my phone started to buzz.
"Hello?"
"Hi, I'm looking to speak with Bella Swan."
"That would be me." I responded.
"Hi, Bella. This is Ashley at Buttercup Bakery. I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you but with the back to back storms, we were unable to get into the store for a few days. I just wanted to let you know that should you still want it, the job is yours."
"Thank you so much. I promise you won't regret your decision." I couldn't contain my excitement but kept my voice calm.
"Would you be able to come in tomorrow at 8 and we can go through everything with you?"
"Of course. I'll be there at 8."
"I'll see you then." Ashley confirmed then we said our goodbyes.
"I got the job!" I said, enthusiastically. "Yes!"
For the next two weeks I spent most of my time working at the bakery and in my free time with my huge family of pack members, my mom and dad who seemed to be doing great with their new found love for each other, Jake, Billy and Beth, who seemed to be at Billy's most days, and planning a wedding with Leah and Angela. Sam was great but Leah was very particular about what she wanted so he didn't try to persuade her one way or the other over small details. As long as he got to marry her in the end, he'd be happy.
Any time Sam talked about his wedding with Leah, I could see this twinkle in Jake's eyes that said he couldn't wait to do the same. I guess a part of me couldn't wait either. I remembered how happy I felt in my visions of our future wedding and knew that despite my previous reservations on the topic, that Jake was the one person I would happily bind myself to.
Jake took me back to the fair when they arrived for the Fall event like he wanted. We spent the day with my parents though instead of other pack members and I was shocked at the memories my mom shared from her time at the fair before we moved away from Forks.
Renee rarely talked about those days so I didn't have a lot to go on besides that she never fell out of love with Charlie. She just hated the idea of a small town, though she seemed to really be enjoying it now. The kids at the school she worked at seemed to love her and she loved them back. It was such a change from Phoenix that it was almost like I had a completely different mother.
On September 30th one of the new members, Vanessa turned 16, so of course we threw her a sweet 16 bash with all of the things a 16 year old girl might want. She was thrilled.
Jake decided to give her driving lessons since her parents both had full time jobs. We had a party and I made the cake. We decided to gift her with a shopping spree, each of us tossing in what we could. She along with Leah, Angela, Kim, Jessica and myself went into Port Angeles to find her something she'd like.
When we were done most of our shopping, we decided to take a small break for something to eat.
"Hey!" Someone called out to us. When I turned around, he was jogging up to us with a Forever 21 bag in his hand. "You forgot your bag." He said as he caught up with us. Vanessa missed one of her bags under the seat and none of us noticed. She turned around and I watched as her entire face changed from thankful to… seeing the sun for the first time.
Vanessa imprinted.
It seemed that more and more members of the pack were finding their imprint. How many girls can say they found their true love on their 16th birthday? I was happy for her and based on the looks of the other girls, they were too. That was until a girl came up behind him and looped her arm through his then kissed his cheek.
"Always the gentleman. Isn't he the sweetest?" She said with a tone that said back off, he's mine. "Come on Kyle, I wanted to hit Aeropostale before dinner."
"Thank you." Vanessa said quietly as he handed her the bag and walked off. He glanced back at her once more before rounding the corner. Vanessa let out a sob. "That… he… what if I never see him again?"
Jessica wrapped an arm around Vanessa's shoulders and lead her toward a big chocolate store. "From what I've seen so far, the spirits or whoever it is that decides who imprints on who, tend to not mess up. Have hope. You're only 16, your life is just beginning."
"Yeah…" Vanessa said. I could tell she didn't really want to hear Jessica's overly optimistic thoughts on her future. Her future had just walked away from her, and with a girl on his arm no less.
We spent another hour perusing the shelves of yet another clothing store. When Vanessa opened the door to the dressing room for what should have been her last outfit, her face lit up. I turned and saw the boy from before, Kyle, standing at a rack looking through some tees completely unaware he was being stared at.
The girl from before came up to him and wrapped an arm around his again but he pulled away.
I looked away before I was spotted but couldn't help overhearing, they weren't exactly being quiet.
"How many times do I have to ask you to stop? I was kind enough to come take you shopping but I've turned you down like five times now. I'm about ready to leave you here and let your parents pick you up. This is ridiculous Amber! I'm not your boyfriend so hands off."
"But Kyle, you KNOW you like me."
"Yeah, like a damn sister, so please just stop interfering with my life."
My eyes went wide and so did Vanessa's then I could see the boy walk away in the mirror on Vanessa's dressing room door which faced the entrance to the store.
/Later that day/
"Today was so much fun. Thank you guys being such amazing friends." Vanessa walked away from Sam and Leah's house waving behind her as she headed toward the treeline. "It's been stressful though..I'm going for a run."
"Well, I'm exhausted. Shopping always makes me tired. See ya's." Jessica blew us a kiss and got into her car followed by Angela who had carpooled with her.
"You guys mind if I stay the night?" Kim asked. "Been a bit since we did a sleepover."
"Not at all." Leah replied giddily. "Bella?"
"I'd love that."
We never actually ended up watching a movie but we spent the entire night talking about where life had taken us recently. Kim and Jared were actually planning a trip down to Mexico over Christmas break. She had always wanted to see the Mayan ruins and Jared decided to use the money he'd been saving to take her. She was excited and started stocking up on supplies already. She mostly just wanted to take a ton of pictures though.
It had been over three weeks since that day and every single one of those days I listened to Vanessa talk about the boy from the store, her imprint. We were at Jake's and Quil was playing some video game with Jake on the couch while I hung out with Vanessa and Kim in the kitchen.
"You've been a wolf for all of a minute," Quil said, laughing at his death in whatever game they had on but his next words showed he was upset "And even YOU are finding your imprint. I'm going to grow old and still not have somebody."
"Aww, Quil don't say that." I walked behind the couch and wrapped my arms around him to cheer him up. I could see Jake tense beside him in the corner of my eye before his character died too.
"I need some air." Jake said then walked toward the front door.
"Hey, wait up. I'll join you." I called, standing up and moving away from Quil. Jake stopped without turning and just nodded once. When I caught up, he took my hand and led me outside to the garage. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just on edge."
"Why would me hugging Quil put you on edge?" I looked up into Jake's face but I could only see sadness.
"It's not important. I shouldn't let it get to me anyways. Not like anything is going to change."
"Are you uncomfortable with our friendship?" I couldn't figure out why he might be but something told me it was true.
"I… I'm just… he…"
"Oh. He told you?" I had figured out months ago how Quil felt about me, but he was such a good friend. There was no way I could just stop hanging out with him.
"You know?" Jake sounded surprised so I had to guess that Quil didn't want that bit of information to get back to me.
"I figured it out on my own. It wasn't really hard to see, but he's a good guy."
"He is, which is what makes this all so difficult and frustrating. Any other guy and I could have just threatened him to stay away or beat him up but it's Quil. I just… gotta deal. And I am. I'm trying at least." Jake smiled at me. "It's going to take a bit but I'll get there."
"Good. You know I'd never, and he'd never, not for anything in the world would either of us do that to you."
"I do know that. He pretty much said the same. I know I have nothing to worry about. Come here." Jake pulled me in for a kiss but we didn't get very far before there was a knock at the garage door. "Yeah?"
Quil opened the door a bit and peered in then looked down when he noticed our flushed expressions.
"Um, Kim's not feeling the greatest so I'm going to take her home, Vanessa's coming with. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
We both said bye before Jake and I resumed our previous actions, only stopping when our Dad's pulled into the driveway. Not another word was said about Quil's feelings.