All characters that are from the TWILIGHT saga by Stephanie Meyer belong to Stephanie Meyer. All others belong to me. I do not receive profit for these stories except for the joyous enjoyment of reviews.
This story follows right after When I'm Gone: Third Installment to GONE Saga, so if you haven't read that one or the two before, please do.
The timeline of the story will coincide with Gabriel Michael Laskaris' growing up years, starting at Seth and Rosa's wedding day, April 12th and will progress from there.
AN: Lili Uley, 9yrs old, 4thgrd/Tyra Laskaris, 5yrs old, kinder/Xavier Laskaris, 1yr old/Emerie Laskaris, 8-9yrs old, 6thgrd/Marc De Lune, 14yrs old, 8thgrd, and as always, Gabe's age is next to the chapter.
Enjoy the quick update and if I get tons of reviews, I'll update again soon -I've already finished the next chapter!
Chapter Fifty-One (11-12yrs old)
Third Weekend of April
They were in big trouble.
Marc's impassive face didn't show what he was feeling which was good because he was nervous as hell. Granted, there wasn't much the man could do to him what with him being half-vampire but then again, he wasn't entire sure if he would survive, say...a gunshot because that's exactly what Robyn's dad was thinking of doing.
Marc and Robyn sat next to each other, both ramrod straight with their tense shoulders thrown back as her father paced before them, obvious agitation and anger on his face. Marc knew what the guy wanted to do, having been stupid enough to take a peak and now he wondered how much longer it was going to take for Uncle Seth to come to his rescue.
He and Robyn had planned another movie night in Port Angeles -not that they watched much of what was happening on the big screen -but Robyn remembered she had agreed to babysit her neighbor's three year old...and that's where the shit hit the fan.
He really shouldn't have agreed to join her -he supposed he could blame it on hormones or whatever the fuck made it impossible to think past the way it felt to kiss her while holding her.
He was supposed to be made of stronger stuff...stronger stuff that apparently crumbled when it involved an invitation to watch a movie while cuddling on the couch...without parental supervision. It had been just his damn luck her neighbor had cut her date short and came into her house to find them in a total lip lock...with his hand up Robyn's skirt.
A knock at the door had all three of them snap their heads to the side, Robyn's dad stomping across the living room floor to yank open the front door, a deep scowl on his face as he glared at Uncle Seth, "Are you Marc's uncle?"
Uncle Seth gave a nod, his eyebrow arched as he looked over the much shorter guy to the two teenagers sitting on the edge of the couch, both of them staring at the floor with single-minded focus, "That would be me, yes."
"I don't want him near my daughter," the words came out harsh, Uncle Seth turning his attention to the angry man who had yet to invite him in.
"Why is that?"
Marc knew without looking at Uncle Seth's face there would be amusement over the whole situation as Robyn's dad exploded, pointing a thick finger towards them, "My daughter is thirteen years old! I should not be coming home to find out she's got her tongue down some boy's throat while he's feeling her up!"
Seth bit the inside of his cheek, telling himself not to laugh. After all, if the situation were reversed, he'd be just as pissed, "You're right -you shouldn't be coming home to that."
Robyn's dad jerked his head in a nod, not at all pacified with Seth's agreement, "You keep him away from her -I ever see him near my daughter, he'll be sorry."
The amusement in Seth's brown-green eyes disappeared, his usually easy-going demeanor nowhere in sight as he stared into angry blue-gray eyes, "And if anything happens to my boy -you'll be sorry. Let's go, Marc."
The drive back to La Push was quiet, Marc staring out the window at the shadows of the trees, feeling stupidly embarrassed over the whole thing. He sure hoped Uncle Seth wouldn't say anything to Tia Rosa about this...they would probably both die of mortification if they had to talk about it.
"So you got to third base, uh?"
Marc's head whipped to the side, chocolate brown eyes wide as he stare at his Uncle, not entire sure where he was going with this baseball talk, "Third base?"
"Uh-hu," Uncle Seth kept his eyes on the road, one hand on the steering wheel while the other hung out of the Mustang's opened window, "First base, kiss her. Second base, make-out. Third base, feel her up."
Marc stared at him, seriously confused over the whole baseball analogy, "What's a home run?"
He watched as the corners of Uncle Seth's mouth lifted into a grin, brown-green eyes twinkling as he turned to look at him, "Wait a few more years to find out, okay?"
Marc nodded, feeling the anxiety inside him loosen up as he realized his Uncle Seth wasn't angry. Marc wasn't entire sure what he was but angry, he was not.
"Okay."
May 10th
Balloons were everywhere, tables and chairs being set up in the front yard while the jumping castle and games were taking place behind the little two story house.
Her cousins were already here -how could they not be, living within walking distance of her house -even though the party wasn't ready to start for another hour and a half. There was going to be cake and a candy-stuffed piƱata -Aunt Rose along with Marc and Vivi had made one that looked like a liquid molecule...she was going to get to split an atom.
Despite all the cool games -all of them fun science because that's what she had wanted -Emmie was looking forward to one thing the most and that was the confetti volcano.
Mou had helped her build the volcano, rigging a simple mechanism that would shoot two pounds of confetti ten feet up into the air...it was going to be epic.
Emmie slid out of the inflatable castle where she had been jumping with Ian, Zak, Alyx and Andrey, landing on the mat mama had put at the front of 'Frankenstein's Castle' to keep socks from picking up dirt and grass. Putting on her shoes, she ran around the side of the house towards the front.
All the adults were working together to finish setting up. There was the gift table in front of her mama's flower bed, the table where the cake was going to be on the other side of the porch steps. Daddy and Uncle Sam were on across the front yard, working the grills where the hamburgers and hot dogs were cooking.
Emmie wrinkled her nose at the smell, looking around in search of Mou but he wasn't amongst her aunts and uncles who were still setting up tables and chairs, taping streamers to the sides, balloons tied to the backs of the chairs.
Frowning, she ran over to her Daddy, tugging at his jeans to get his attention from the conversation he was having with Uncle Sam, "Daddy?"
He looked down at her, eyes smiling along with his mouth, "Yes moro?"
"Have you seen Mou?"
"He's on his way, agoraki," he brushed back her bangs, tapping a finger against her nose; "He called to let us know he's bringing a friend with him."
Emmie frowned at this information, dark eyebrows dipping into a vee between her bright blue eyes, "Is it a girl?"
"I don't know, glikia," he cupped her cheek, giving her the look she knew meant she was to obey whatever he said, "You mind your manners, okay?"
Emmie twisted her mouth into a tight bud, digging her toe into the ground as Daddy kept looking at her, finally letting out a heavy sigh, "Okay."
"That's my girl."
Normally, praise from her Daddy made her feel good but the thought of Mou bringing a friend that's a girl to her ninth birthday party wasn't sitting well with her.
Rubbing her chest, she looked around the front yard before walking around the house to the back in search of her cousin Lili. Seeing her at the Crazy Putty table, she ran across the yard to her, grinning when she saw her handling a bright blue ball of putty.
"Do you like it?"
Lili turned to look at her, awe on her face as she let go of the putty, only to watch it bounce against the surface of the table, "How does this work?"
Emmie was more than happy to explain the science behind the putty, "The glue is a polymer while the powder is a sodium borate and when they're combined in water, the molecules react and become one giant molecule."
Lili nodded, smiling at her cousin as she squished the blue putty in her fist, watching it come out between her fingers, "That's cool...although I didn't understand a single thing you said."
Emmie giggled, not holding it against her cousin for not understanding -really, the only person she could talk about science with was Mou and her brother Zak who had a similar interest in the subject. Everyone else just didn't get her fascination over discovering how everything around them worked.
She took Lili to the other games -gravity free water, dry ice bubbles, bucket spinning -and through each one, she explained to her the concepts behind air pressure, sublimation, centripetal force, Lili listening avidly to her as more kids began to show up, some of them from her sixth grade class but most of them were from the reservation school.
The party was well into starting when Emmie caught sight of Mou's car. He was parking across their front yard and even though Emmie knew she wasn't supposed to, she was too excited about seeing him and having his help with the confetti volcano that she ran to him, weaving around people's legs as he got out of the car.
"MOU!"
His laugh always made her stomach flip, the funny sensation making her laugh in return as he called out to her, "Princess!"
Several feet away, she threw herself at him, knowing without a doubt he would catch her and not let her fall and get hurt. She laughed as he swung her up into the air, easily catching her before giving her a big hug, her own arms wrapped around his neck.
He kissed the side of her head, leaning back to smile into her blue eyes, "How's the birthday Princess doing? Are you enjoying your party?"
Emmie gave a vigorous nod, framing his face between her hands, "Lili likes the games mama and I planned -she said she didn't know science could be so much fun!"
"That's great, Princess," Mou's smile grew bigger as he gave her a squeeze, "It seems your goal for the party has been met."
"My theory was most kids have no idea the fun in learning science," Emmie gave him a big grin as he shifted her so she'd be sitting on his arm -even though she was now nine, Emmie was still smaller than some girls her age and she didn't mind because that meant Mou could still pick her up and hold her, which she liked very much, "My initial findings supports my theory."
Mou laughed, the vibrations against her chest causing her to giggle, the sound of a slamming car door breaking into their conversation. Looking away from Mou's brown eyes, Emmie zeroed in on the woman that walked around Mou's car towards him.
She was short, with blond hair that looked washed out, eyes a dull brown and her smiling mouth reminding Emmie of a clown -she wasn't a pretty woman, at least not to Emmie, "Who is she?"
"Emmie," Mou gave her a slight jostle to have her look at him, "This is a friend. She came to meet you."
Emmie really doubted that -it was obvious just by looking at the woman smiling at her Mou that she wasn't here because of her, "Why would she want to meet me?"
"Well," Mou reached up to tap a finger against her nose, something he did whenever she frowned and although it always made her smile, this time she couldn't find it in her to do so, "She's working on her master's and her thesis is on education. I told her of how smart you are and she wanted to ask you some questions. She also wants to talk to your mom and dad."
"You could have given her our phone number -she didn't have to come to my party with you."
Emmie was able to see the woman was surprised by what she had said and she knew she was being rude but she didn't care -she didn't like her and no one was going to make her.
The woman finally spoke up, a big smile on her face that gave Emmie the creeps, "I wanted to meet you in person. Embry talks so much about you and I wanted to know you as well. My name's Martha."
Emmie's jaw was tight, her lips a tight line as she stared at the woman, not saying anything, the tension getting heavier as the silence continued.
"Embry tells me you're in sixth grade."
"I've completed sixth grade," Emmie answered, voice flat as she kept staring at the woman, "I'll be starting seventh grade in August."
"That's impressive," Martha smiled bigger and Emmie noticed there was lipstick on her canines -it was very disturbing, "What's your favorite subject at school?"
Embry watched his Princess, almost laughing out loud at the way she arched an eyebrow, "Science. I also like math."
"Oh. Do you want to be a scientist when you grow up?"
Embry knew what was coming and even though he knew Leah and Rick didn't like her superiority complex rearing its condescending head, he found it quiet funny.
"I am a scientist," Emmie kept her blue eyes on the woman, hating the way she was talking down to her, as if she only had half a brain because she was a little kid, "A definition of scientist is a person who studies and practices the sciences. However, my plans for a future career involve degrees in botany, entomology and mineralogy. I'll be studying chemistry, physics and mathematics as well."
She looked like a wide eyed bug, her clown mouth opened slightly in surprise and Emmie couldn't help thinking how dumb she looked. Looking back at Mou, she couldn't fight back the feeling of betrayal, her voice tight and small, "Please put me down."
Embry felt the sharp stabbing pain in his chest, crouching down before he dropped her from the sheer surprise of it, "Princess -"
She didn't let him finish, turning to run back towards her house, dodging the people milling about the front yard. He saw Leah walking out of the house with one year old Xavier in her arms, Tyra by her side -she called out to Emmie but his Princess ran past her and into the house.
Rubbing his hand against his pained chest, he closed his eyes as he tried to figure out how to right the wrong he had obviously done her.
"What a brat."
Teeth snapping hard, he turned to look at Martha, his skin tightening as she kept yapping.
"Obviously, her parents spoil her. Being a genius doesn't give her the right to make others feel stupid."
"Stop," Embry turned to face her, his hands fisted at his sides as he fought back the fire climbing up his back -no one talked about his Princess that way, "You don't know her so you have no right to talk of her like that. Besides, you were the one being condescending, speaking to her as if she were some dim-witted child when I very clearly explained her intelligence level to you."
Martha's shock at the way he spoke to her showed on her face, her eyes wide as he turned and walked away from her without saying another word.
She wasn't sure what had happened but it was obvious, despite having spent the last month meeting Embry twice a week and thinking a friendship was forming, there was going to be no more coffee or lunch 'interviews.'
As she ran past her, Leah caught a glimpse of the tears running down her little girl's face.
Looking across the yard, she watched Embry talking to a pretty blond by his car and although she was too far away to be able to hear what he was saying, she could tell from his posture he wasn't all too pleased with her.
Letting out a sigh, she looked down at Tyra, crouching to place Xavier on his feet, the tiny Converse sneakers he wore still brand new because she'd yet to let him try out his walking skills outside, "Tyra, honey. Will you watch your little brother for me? I need to go talk to your sister."
"Yes mama," Tyra nodded, blond pigtails tickling her cheeks as she took her little brother's hand, his balance improving as he held on tight, "I take good care of him."
"I know you will, baby," she kissed her forehead, smiling into the brown-green eyes that were identical to her own; "I won't take long, okay?"
"Okay mama."
Heading into the house, she saw Gabriel and his cousins sitting on the living room floor around her coffee table, pencils and papers strewn across the polished surface -they were working on their bike track design, apparently.
"Gabe," Leah smiled at her first born as he looked up at her, "Could you go outside and keep an eye on Tyra and Xavier? Make sure the twins don't pick on her."
"Yep," he nodded, putting down his pencil and getting up, his cousins following after him -it was intriguing for Leah to see that although her son was the youngest of the four, they all tended to follow him...well, except for Marc. He just seemed to go along with the flow.
Reaching her daughters' bedroom, she knocked on the closed door, turning the knob and stepping into the room, not surprised to find her daughter in the center of her bed, glasses perched on her nose as she read the book opened on her lap.
Occasional sniffle let her know she wasn't reading, probably because she couldn't see through the tears that escaped the corner of her eyes, "Emmie -"
"Why would he bring her," Emmie reached up to wipe her nose against the long sleeve shirt she was wearing along with the new jeans, "It's my birthday party, mama, so why would he bring her here?"
"I don't know, baby," Leah moved across the room to sit on Emmie's bed, reaching out to rub soothing circles against her back, "Did you ask him?"
"He said she wanted to meet me," Emmie wiped the back of her hand over her cheeks, pushing her glasses higher up her nose, "Because he told her I was really smart and she was doing her thesis on education and somehow, those two things were related to me."
Leah smiled at the affronted look on her daughter's face, wrapping her arm around the small shoulders, Emmie burying her face into her mother's neck, "Well, baby...it doesn't surprise me Embry's bragging about you -he does think you make the world go 'round -"
"She wasn't here for me," Emmie's voice was muffled but Leah understood every angry word, "She lied to him about wanting to meet me because she likes him."
"And if she does?"
"He's mine," Emmie pulled back, taking her glasses off to look her mama in the eye, "You say so, Daddy says so...so does he."
"Baby," Leah let out a sigh, for the first time wondering if it had been such a good idea in telling her daughter the truth about imprinting and what it entailed, "He does belong to you...but he also needs friends his own age. You still have a long way to grow up, sweetheart, and I don't think it's fair you don't want him to have friends while he waits."
Sniffing, she rubbed her eyes with closed fists, her glasses on her lap, "He can have friends just not girls 'cause they don't want to be his friends, they want more, like you and Daddy."
Leah couldn't help the smile -her daughter was not only a genius but very perceptive...especially when it involved Embry, "In that case, you should talk to Embry and see if he's also interested in more because as far as I know, he's not. But don't take my word for it."
Emmie shook her head, her pigtails whipping against her shoulders, "He'll say no 'cause he won't want to hurt my feelings..."
"He'll say no because it'll be the truth, baby."
Emmie stayed quiet, her eyes downcast as she fingered the corner of the book's pages, Leah practically seeing the wheels turning at top speed in her little head.
Emmie looked up as the idea popped into her head, throwing her arms around her mother's neck, "I got it! Thank you mama!"
Leah was confused as Emmie scrambled off the bed, placing the book and her glasses on her desk, "You've got what?"
She didn't get an answer because Emmie ran out of the room, single-mindedly focused on whatever idea had popped into her head.
Letting out a sigh, she fell back into the multitude of pillows on her daughter's bed, staring up at the ceiling as she let out another tired sigh, her hands resting on her lower stomach.
It was tiring, this mothering job but Leah had no desire to give it up or exchange it for something easier to handle -in all honesty, Leah loved the ups and downs, not to mention total chaos, that came with being a mother of seven.
She smiled softly as her fingers interlocked over her lower abdomen, the hard swell making her heart flood with the burning sensation she knew to be unconditional love.
She was no longer a mother of seven but soon to be eight.
She knew where he would be, knew that he was waiting for her because he knew she had needed space and time to herself but now that she knew what to do about the whole "friends that are girls that don't really want to be friends," she wanted to be close to him.
Moving around her friends and cousins, she reached the tree house, ignoring the "No Girls Allowed" sign her brothers, Alyx and Andrey, had nailed to the side of the tree and climbing up, the wooden slats that served as a ladder cutting into her tender palms.
Reaching the opening, she crawled in, smiling at Mou who sat against the opposite wall, an arm resting on his bent knee, his brown eyes looked into hers as he gave her a soft smile, "Are you okay?"
Emmie nodded, walking across the floor until she was able to kneel beside him, hand automatically touching his face to reassure herself he was still there -still hers, "I'm sorry I was rude to your friend."
His smile grew a little bit, his fingers reaching out to give one of her pigtails a gentle tug, "She was more of an acquaintance, Princess. She came up to me at the library last month, wanting to interview me for her thesis."
Emmie's nose wrinkled as she dropped her hand to her lap, "So she said."
He chuckled at her sullen tone, "I'm sorry I brought her here on your birthday."
Emmie lifted a shoulder in a shrug, not able to hide her feelings or thoughts from him and not caring to, "It doesn't matter when you would have brought her, I still wouldn't have liked her...because she was with you."
"Emerie."
She looked up at the serious tone to her given name, looking into his brown eyes as he tilted his head to the side, "Do you remember what I told you some years ago? In this very tree house?"
There was only one other time they'd been up in the tree house, "I'm the only ducky you see?"
He let out a soft chuckle, reaching out to tap his finger against her nose, this time her lips stretching into a smile the way it usually did, "Exactly."
"Mama says it's not fair of me to not want you to have friends that are girls," Emmie dropped her eyes again, rubbing a finger against the inside seam of her jeans, "Because I still have a long way to go in growing up."
"Oh Princess," he couldn't help it anymore, reaching out to pull her into his side, her back against his chest, her legs crossed lotus style, one knee resting against his thigh, "It doesn't matter to me how long I wait -you take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
Emmie tilted her head back to look at him, "So you don't want a girlfriend?"
He placed a kiss on her forehead, a chuckle escaping him as he explained, "There's no point to me getting a girlfriend -not only do I not notice what they look like, I don't even care."
Emmie dropped her chin to her chest, biting her bottom lip as she strummed his knuckles with her thumb, "Because of me?"
"Because I have a purpose in life, Emerie...and that purpose is you."
She nodded, feeling suddenly shy but knowing she had to ask because her idea depended on his answer to her question, "Mou?"
He let out a soft breath, a wave of relief washing over him -he hadn't been oblivious to the fact she hadn't called him hers from the moment she climbed into the tree house until now, "Yes Princess?"
She smiled, knowing that for now she was just that -his Princess, "When I grow up...will you marry me?"
She felt the chuckle vibrate against her shoulder blades but knew he wasn't laughing at her -he would never do that.
"You're asking me to marry you," he tilted her head back with a finger under her chin, "Don't you want to wait until I can ask you?"
She shook her head, bangs brushing her forehead with the motion, "No -I want you to know waiting for me will pay off. Mama says even though you imprinted on me, it's my choice of what to do about it. I want you to know that I will always choose you...and I'll never, ever change my mind."
Embry smiled, hugging her against him as her words wrapped around his heart -to him, this moment was the equivalent of a child asking the same question of an adult, without there being anything but that childlike innocence of what was expected of the future.
"Well, then," Embry smiled at her, his entire world shifting into its upright position when she smiled in return, "In that case, it would be an honor to wait for you to grow up so I can marry you."
They sat in comfortable silence, the sound of their beating hearts soothing them both, Emmie turning to look up into his chocolate brown eyes, "Mou?"
"Yes Princess."
"Do you think she's pretty?"
He couldn't hold back his laughter, pulling her into a tight hug as he dropped a kiss on her head.
"Not as pretty as you, Princess."
Later that no-moon night
Leah collapsed onto the bed beside her husband, both of them letting out a long exhausted breath.
"So glad today fell on a no-moon night," Leah muttered, turning her head to the side to look at her husband, smiling at the tired smile he gave her, "I don't think I could have done any of this without your help."
Rick chuckled, taking her hand in his and interlocking their fingers, "Considering you and Emmie had it all planned out, I pretty much took care of set up, cooking and clean up."
"Which is ninety percent of what a party is," Leah closed her eyes, every muscle in her body exhausted from moving to and from all day.
"I still think letting her have a sleepover at Embry's was overkill."
Leah looked into her husband's eyes, chuckling at his grumbling, "Lili's with her as well as Nika and Vivi."
"I just don't get what he's going to do with four girls in his house," Rick muttered, recalling the slight look of alarm on Embry's face when Emmie begged for a sleepover at his house with her cousins.
"What you always have him do," Leah let out a soft sigh before moving over him, straddling his body as she sat up, her bottom snuggled into his pelvis, "Give her space to be herself. On another note...I have some news to share with you."
His hands had automatically moved to grip her hips when she had moved, his body reacting to hers the way it always did. Looking into her bright brown-green eyes and the soft smile on her lips, he realized what the news was, "Leah, baby...are you serious? Xavier just turned one in March."
Leah laughed softly under her breath as she leaned down, her hair creating a curtain around their faces, "It's not like you're uninvolved, you know."
"One full moon night," Rick reached up to run his fingers through her hair, pulling her down to kiss her smiling lips, "You'd think with age, the little swimmers would slow down but apparently not."
"Rachel suggested we bottle it up and sell it," Leah gave him a teasing nip on the lower lip, her hips rocking against him, the hard evidence of his desire for her rubbing against her with delicious friction, "As for me, there's no way I'll let anyone else have what's mine."
Rick laughed, licking her bottom lip before sucking on the top on, his body moving in rhythm to her rocking, neither feeling any need to rush this moment, "Baby...this is our last one. Promise me."
Leah kissed her way across his jaw and down his throat, letting out a soft moan as he slid his hands into her panties to gently squeeze her bottom while at the same time grinding her against his hard-on, "No promises. I think fate has decided we're amazing parents and however many she wants to give me, I'll take."
Rick groaned, rolling them over until he was over her, his elbows on either side of her head keeping his entire weight off her, "Then I think it's time we start beating them, starving them and refuse to buy them any more shoes."
Leah laughed at that, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down on her, loving the way it felt when he settled his body flush against hers, "Or we can just stop meeting on full moon nights."
Rick frowned, not liking that option but he couldn't help thinking eight kids in their tiny five bedroom house was enough, "I'm thinking we'll have to to come up with an alternate solution."
"That's what I thought."
