Chapter 6: 3 Day Vacation Part 1

My head was laying on a warm chest. As I was stirring awake, a piercing pain came upon on the side of the head. A migraine just came, and most likely it was because of the crying from yesterday.

"Argh" I yelped as I ducked my head to the pillows.

I heard Paul said hurriedly, "What's wrong?"

He leaned forward to me with his hand laying on my back, and I said, "A migraine is coming. I need to catch it before it becomes a full-blown migraine or else, I will be in bed for hours…can you go to my luggage and find me Excedrin: Migraines pills and pop me 2?"

Without even responding, he quickly went out to the door toward the luggages that was left in the living room. I lay in the bed, pressing the pillow onto my face while I was hearing shuffling noises in the distance.

Once he got back, Paul gently lifted me up to turn around to take the pills with water, still clinching my head with my hand and refusing to open my eyes.

I muttered, "thanks, do you have an ice pack so I can put them in my eyes?"

I heard him say, "Yeah."

I layed back down in bed, and it wasn't a minute before he came back and gently placed the ice pack in my eyes. I sigh in ease from the coolness of the ice pack in my eyes.

I said, "I.. I have to sleep it off, so imma rest a bit more."

I fell back asleep in exhaustion without giving Paul a chance to reply back.

I woke up again. I slowly open my eyes and try to adjust my eyesight. I blinked and blinked and the ice pack fell off on my right side.

Hmm? How long have I been asleep for? Was I that knocked out that I didn't notice that I am sleeping in a different position?

This time I was being cradled by Paul in the bed. My head was laying on his arm, and I was laying spread out across him. I had a blanket on top of me, and my hand.. turns out was laying on top of his covered thigh. I guess in my sleep, he put his shorts which I am thankful for. Or else, that could've gotten awkward. Trying to access my surrounding, I turned my head to look at him. He was laying back against the bed frame. His head was laying against the wall and he had his eyes closed. His other arm was resting across my stomach.

I took the time to really look at him. He is definitely handsome. His chiseled jaw, straight nose and sharp eyebrows. His semi-long eyelashes. The next thing he did was shocking. He actually smiled!

He said, "are you done checking me out?"

I jumped by the sound of his voice. He opened his eyes to look at me. His eyes were still shining silver around the rims of his eyes.

My heart stopped and I feel a little embarrassed. I smiled sheepishly and said, "Yeah."

He gave his signature smirk before he asked concerningly, " How are you feeling?"

I pondered," I think I am okay. I feel a bit sluggish but I think over time , it will get better."

He still had that worried expression and, so he slowly helps me sit up and I laid my head on his chest.

I said, "don't worry. I'm used to do this."

He frowned just a bit to that response. He asked, "crying really triggers the migraine for you?"

I replied, "yeah, do you know ..?"

He said knowingly, "yeah. They showed me in the pack mind last night when I was out in the woods.. is it related to your eye problem?"

I said, "yeah. I have extreme light sensitivity; my sense of surrounding is off so I really can't see where I am going in the nighttime. I .. can't look at the sun, the sunset or the moon. . and I can get migraines easily. .. From the change of weather, how much light exposure that I have, how much screen exposure that I have, the times of day of go out because of how strong the sun Ray's would be in the afternoon and evening, but I don't think I would worry about that here in Washington. It's pretty cloudy so that makes it easier for me to go around. Also, I can get migraines like now from crying so strongly."

He stayed silent and I looked up to see and he had the saddest expression ever. I slowly got up from his lap, and he pulled me closer to nuzzle my check and purr in attempt to comfort me. He even kissed me at the spot behind my ear. It got me blushing.

I reassured him, "it's okay. It doesn't bother me as much in the past .. I accept it that this is how I am going to live from now but what about you?"

I looked away and continued, "would you be okay having an imprint who have needs?"

He hugged me and said, "you are who we want. With problems or no problems, I don't regret imprinting on you. I'm more sad for you than how it would impact me to be honest."

Getting to my feels, I nodded. Trying to change the subject, I looked at the window and asked, "what time is it? Its two in the afternoon"

I gasped, "two in the afternoon?"

He responded, "Yeah. You woke up around 8am and fell pack asleep. I let you sleep off…and well I panicked when you kept on sleeping, so I called Sue. Sue told me it would be best to let you sleep it off, so I ate morning, and I made lunch. I..uh, me and my wolf spirit didn't want to eat lunch without you, so I slept back in bed with you. He didn't feel comfortable that I went on my day knowing that you aren't feeling well."

I nodded in understanding. I said, "Would you mind if I get ready, and I go meet you at the kitchen? I promise I won't take long."

He said hesitantly, avoiding looking at me in the eyes, "Yeah, sure."

I questioned, "What. Whats up?"

As if he wasn't able to lie to me, he said, "..When you wanted the pills, I was desperate and made a mess with your stuff.."

I walked out to the living room, and I saw all three luggages were thrown open. All of my stuff was all over the place. I looked at it, and said, "Okay."

He lurked behind me, and said bewildered, "Okay?"

I said, "Yeah? but you have to clean it up though. Your mess, your responsibility."

He said, "Oh."

I said amusingly, "What. You expected me to go all berserk about it? It's not that big of a deal. It's not like you destroy them, it's just messy."

He said, "Uh..Yeah? The girls that I have met, they would've reacted that way. So, you don't mind me arranging your stuff?"

I said, "I don't really mind. Just show me where you have placed them and I must adjust it, but I don't mind you handling them unless you are uncomfortable about it." I arched my eyebrow on the last part.

He said roughly, "No, I am okay with it."

Mhm. Sure

I said, "Okay, I am..going to grab my stuff here and go shower" as I reached out to my lingerie, and Paul stood there staring. His eyes darken, still with a silver tint to them, when he saw what I was holding, so to tease him, I waved, "bye. Don't get too excited putting up my clothes" as I went inside the bathroom.

I heard him say, "Now that is just mean" behind me.

I closed the door behind me. I just stood there, leaning against the door. Dang, did I just do that? I blushed and put a hand over my mouth. Wow, I am gutsy, today. Trying to brush it off, I reminded myself Okay, I really need a shower. I fell all sticky and sweaty from being in the beach, crying from the night before, and sleeping with a guy with high temperature.

I showered and got ready, and by the time I got out, Paul had the table all set up. It looked like he prepared spaghetti with meat sauce. He served me a small plate of spaghetti while he had small pile of spaghetti in a salad bowl. When he saw me, he was holding ihs fork and knife ready to eat. I could even hear his stomach rumbling from the distance.

Oh my gosh. That is just great. He is so happy for food. I haven't seen anyone that happy with food in a long time. Paul cracks me up.

I started laughing, and He asked, "What. What did I do?"

"Oh nothing. You're just funny. To see you so happy to eat", I said smiling.

He just gave me a blank stare and tilted his head in confusion then he just shrugged. I guess he didn't get it, so once I sat down, he started devouring his food. It's sweet that he was waiting for me to

I tasted it, and he did better than I thought. I like this self-sufficient Paul. It bothers me when guys don't want to learn how to cook and leave all the cooking to the woman. Even if he isn't good at cooking, at least he needs to know how to take care of himself. I won't be mummying anyone. I already seen too many of that in my community. Hispanic girls are put with tremendous pressure to learn how to be a housewife and do anything house -related work when the guys don't even learn them. They get babied by the mom too much. Thankfully, I was the only child, so I didn't get to experience that, but I've seen it through my friends, and it's hard to see it being normalized. The only reason I knew how to cook some stuff was because I was left home alone a lot growing up, so I had to learn how to cook something and clean to take care of myself. I mean I am no chef, but I know how to get by.

I complimented him, "This taste good, Paul."

He said between his eating, "Its nothing. Ragu did all the work." Heh, he trying to be humble.

I said, "You know, Ragu got me through college too. Nothing wrong with using Ragu" I winked at him. Surprised with what I just did, he choked hard.

Oh, Shit. Did I just break Paul?

I quickly pushed his drink closer to him. He drank it up and calmed down. He still was looking at me with a surprise expression.

I got a little nervous, and he said, "I didn't expect that from you. You surprise more and more as I get to know you."

After he said that, Paul went to go serve himself another bowl full of spaghetti, and I went to grab some more myself. While we were eating our lunch in peace, Paul then asked, "Last night..when you said you couldn't trust yourself to be alone, what did you mean by that?"

I gulped. Here it comes.

I put my fork down and said, "..I have depression and anxiety. I got off from the medications few months back because my counselor and psychiatrist wanted me to not become dependent on them, and to help me to manage it on my own bit by bit. There was a point in my life where my depression got so bad that I started cutting myself because I didn't know how to let out my feelings in a safe way, and I was feeling numb from everything and cutting brought back control in my life..I hadn't cut myself in a long time, and the urge came back that moment. Whenever it comes, I learned it is best to get someone for help or leave the environment. Thankfully, you were there so.. yeah…"

I had my hands together on the table, and I felt Paul's hand holding both of my hands. Because he is so large, just with one hand, it was big enough to cover both of my hands. It was actually amusing, and I would've laughed if the conversation wasn't so serious. I looked up and He stared at me uneasily before he said, "..I don't know how to help you with this, but give me a chance and I'll learn. I'm here, you don't have fight this alone anymore".

Anymore..

I gave him a small smile and said, "Thank you."

He gave me a genuine smile until he said, "Well, I am stuffed. I don't know about you, I feel like doing nothing but watch T.V."

I laughed, "Now that is what I am talking about."

I got up, and I went to gather the dishes when he said, "Oh I got it covered."

I shook my head, "No, its okay. The person who cooks gets to sit out on cleaning up afterwards. It's fair that way."

He paused and gave a hesitant reply, "Okay?"

I asked just to make sure, "is that fine? Right now, it would be fine, and if you are too tired to clean up after cooking and coming from work or patrol, it won't be right to make you clean up. I promise you will thank me later when it does happen."

He shrugged, "Alright."

He went to the kitchen to grab himself a beer and went to the living room to sit at the reclining chair. He lifted his legs, crossed them, and adjusted the reclining chair so that he would be learning back as he flips through the channel on the T.V.

I asked as I was finishing up cleaning the kitchen, "Do you have work or patrol today?"

He said over the T.V, "Nope because of the fight that we had yesterday, Sam is giving all of us three days off. The elders were not please that we were leaving the reservation defenseless, but Sam actually argued with them for the first time. He told them that we deserved more than a day off from the stress of trying to catch the red leech for months, working ourselves to death."

"Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that Sam is finally putting his foot down for once."

He snorted in agreement, "Hah. Yeah. It was about time."

I went to sit at the couch, and asked, "Where do we go from here?"

He scratched his head and said, "we can get legally married so you can stay in the Rez. But you need those papers from the Cullens..".

I added, "That might take some time…Since we are going to live together, do you want to talk about rules and the like?"

Paul asked questioningly as he lowered the volume of the T.V and giving me full attention, "Rules? Oh, the conditions for you to get legally married to me, right?"

I stuttered, "oh, uh I mean. Yeah, that but its more than that. I don't know much about relationships, so I don't know if this is how you go about it, but I know for sure that its best to set standards and rules from the beginning, so we both are on the same page. I don't want both of us to assume and then that would create misunderstandings and unnecessary conflict etc. So..Yeah Uhm, what do you expect from this relationship?"

Paul said casually, "My wolf spirit has his basic needs to be met: a nice den to live in, be loyal, and bear his pups. I am territorial and very jealous, so I don't want to be cheated on or used no matter who you are" on the last part.

Oh, I heard his underlying threat in that statement. Good to know.

I said, " Gotcha. I am loyal too. I don't want to be cheated on not even emotionally because that is how usually affair first starts. I Once you gain my trust, I can go very far for you, but once you break it, it will take a lot to get it back. Forgiven but not trusted easily..and honestly..I am not a housewife type of material. Don't get me wrong, I am self-sufficient. I lived on my own before for few years with people in college, so I had to learn to cook and clean. I am no chef, but I know how to cook certain things. I..honestly want a partner that we share cores, cooking, cleaning schedule, and to do things together. But, I don't want to do everything together, I like to have my own space too..Hope you respect that... I don't want to do everything on my own nor expect the other to be like that either. It's just not my thing to want to be a housewife and act like one,.. I don't know if this is upsetting you because I don't know how things are culturally for you guys here in the reservation. But do you get where I am coming from or?

He nodded, "I can respect that. I am the same as well. I like being on my own time to time. Well, usually the woman would stay at home and take care of the children and the household while the man would provide. But, my parents were divorced when I was young, so I didn't live with my mom. I lived with my dad and my grandpa until they both died. Dad worked to provide for both of us, and mom would send child support since she was living off well with her new husband. My dad didn't want to use that child support, so he saved it as my college fund to get me out of the reservation. It was my dad's greatest regret marrying my mom to get out of the reservation, but since he couldn't find a job in Tacoma, we had to move back to the reservation… However, I was able to see how it was with the Clearwater's and Cameron's family, so I wanted to have what they have."

I thought to myself, Oh, so that is how he was able to survive after his dad died, stay in college online before he started that business with Sam.

I nodded, "I also wanted united parents and to live in a home full of love as well. My parents divorced when I was young, and my mother married my stepfather more out of necessity than out of love. I didn't really get to see what it means to have a loving home, but I am willing to figure it out with you."

He replied, "Yeah."

I paused, trying to be careful with my words, "But, we need to keep up with communication. Communication is key. Just..because at times we can feel each other emotions, doesn't mean we know everything about each other. I don't want us to have assumptions."

I continued, "I have seen relationships where because both, not just one, didn't overcome their bad traits, the bait traits that were just blocks in the road, it became poison to the relationship. We aren't perfect and we make mistakes, but I believe that we should pursue to be the best version of ourselves not for others but for ourselves. I have met many people in relationships who refused to change because that's who they are, and they are gonna die that way. I don't agree to that mentality. Yes, in some aspect its right, because there are some parts of you that you just can't change. It is just who you are. Like me being kind and affectionate. I don't think I would ever change that part of me, but if being kind and affectionate gets me in trouble and hurt others, then I gotta change how I go about it, so it's the behavior not me the person. It's the behavior that needs to be changed. I hope this makes some sense? Also, I believe that to...to maintain a long and happy marriage, compromises gotta be made, people gotta keep trying to do better. Just because we are mated, it doesn't mean it's okay to get comfortable and if there are some problems in our relationship, to throw it under the rug and keep up the pretense that all is well. I want you to call me out on my actions with respect and I do the same for you as well. I don't want you to grind your teeth and put up with me just because I am your mate."

Paul had an unreadable expression, and he was silent for a bit. His eyes were flashing back and forth in its intensity, so most likely, he was discussing it with his wolf.

I waited for them to finish until he said with a soften expression, "We can do that…I..still have my anger and jealousy to manage..but I am willing to live my life until the day..I die with you by my side."

Until the day I die. His words echoed in my mind. I guess..I'm.. going to stay here.. I don't think I would have the heart to leave Paul behind like this. Would I ever meet someone like Paul back in my timeline.. I doubt it, so with courage and fear, I thought to myself I am willing to see how this goes with Paul.

I nodded mutely, not trusting my voice. He came over to sit next to me in the couch.

I asked, "Since I am going to live with you, how are your finances, Paul? Do you have a bank account, savings, or the like?"

He nodded proudly, "Yup. Because I have been working with Sam the past year as a business partner in the remodeling business, we have been booming. Our business traveled from the reservation, forks and some clients up in Seattle and Port Angeles Since the Red Leech, we only did our business close to Forks and the Rez, so business have been slow. I have a savings and a checking account. In my savings, I have $8,400 saved, and in my checking, I have $3,200. Since it has been only me, Sam, and Jared in the business, we didn't spend a lot of money on labor and maintenance. How come you are asking, love? He asked on the last part.

I said, "Oh, I want to see where you were at financially to see what we needed to work on first. Also, I want to see first if it is much of a demand for me to find a job to work."

He added, "If you don't want to work, I don't mind taking care of you and letting you stay home."

I shook my head, "I appreciate the thought, but I would like to work and help provide as well. I don't want to push all the pressure on you, and we can invest in things that are important..and if..in the distant future, we have kids. Because I already worked before they were born, we would be okay to provide for them and for me to stay home until they are old enough to attend school so I can go back to work. ..I don't know about you, but I don't want to have kids when we are barely making by each day..My parents weren't wise when they had me and I grew up barely seeing them because they both were working long hours in order to provide basic necessities in the house. I don't want my kids to go through that, but I wont spoil them rotten either."

His eyes light up when he mentioned of possible kids, he purred, "so you want kid? That pleases my wolf a lot" as he pulled me closer to him.

I said nervously, "I mean..not really. I am okay living with my life without kids. I don't need kids to feel fulfilled in life personally..but if you want kids Paul, I don't mind having few with you, but in few years though."

He questioned, "why in few years?"

I said nervously, "Well, uh, I don't feel I am ready to have kids emotionally. There are some things that I want to work in myself first before bringing kids to this world. I don't want to bring kids to this world just to satisfy my desire of being a mom when I am not ready for them. There are some things in my life that my parents did to them, and I want to undo them before I have kids, so I won't do the same things to them. Ironically, my profession was a behavior technician, so I was dealing with children with autism and performing therapy on them, its one thing to actually have children.

He said, "Hmm, to me, it sounds like you are ready for kids. You just don't sound confident. You have the heart, the experience from your previous job, and the level-headedness to have kids. To me, you sound more prepared for kids than me. "

Huh, for real, I didn't see it that way.

I said, "…that's true…I guess, we can see as we go? Who knows, we may have kids earlier than we thought , but I know for sure not any time soon"

He nodded, " I agree."

I asked, "Do you know if there is a need for a behavior technician in the reservation?"

He thought about it, "I don't know to be honest, but I can ask Seth to ask the officials in his school, if they are in need of one."

I smiled gratefully, "Oh, thank you!"

He gave a half-smile, "no problem."

Then, the rest of the evening, we just talked and got to know each other. The T.V was just one as a background noise, as he got to ask my questions about my childhood. Where I lived, which schools I went to, which universities that I attend, how was it being the only child, and I told them about my messy family dynamic. The difficulties that I had when I first diagnosed with my eye disease, and I told him few things about the future in my timeline. I also told him the circumstances of what brought me to move out of the house before I was transported here. I didn't tell him everything about me, but we just talked as he asked me questions. I could see that he was happy that I was slowly coming out of my shell and trusting him things about myself.

When I talked about my family, he was there to comfort me and reassure me until his stomach growled. So much time has passed that we didn't notice, it was late in the night.

He asked, "Can we do Chinese takeout from Forks? I just want to be lazy today."

I said, "Sure thing", so he went to ordered and asked for what I wanted. I stayed behind in the living room as Paul went to pick up the order by the door. The delivery guy was intimidated and shocked from how Paul looked that he didn't even notice when Paul already got the order from him and closed the door on him.

Poor guy.

We ate, got ready for bed. I knew he wanted to see my undress in front of him, but I was still a bit shy, so I got dressed in the bathroom. He asked me if I could wear his shorts and t-shirt for pajamas, so I indulge him and wore what he gave me the first time that I came to Paul's place.

I came to bed with Paul spooning me from the behind. I don't know if Paul knew that I noticed of his growing erection from the behind, but I stayed still, try not to pay mind to it because I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable or be a shame of it. Also, for me to..get used to it as well. I never had a guy getting excited over me before, so it was a new experience for me. I am not sure what to think of it, but I just let it slide and fall back asleep with his arms embracing from the behind.

Author's Note:

Hi yall. I made this chapter extra long than usual since I have more free time. Also, I will be celebrating tomorrow for passing my certification exam for my job. Thank you guys for your kind words and encouragement.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know this chapter was bit of a fluff chapter, and next chapter will be a fluff-ish chapter as well ( I will sending that chapter either tomorrow or early Sunday morning), but I think they are needed. I have the next two chapters already in progress. I am still figuring out how to write and working on many chapters at once is better to push more chapters out quicker or not. We shall see.

Warning, I have talked about suicide, depression, anxiety. I am not here to represent everyone with mental illnesses, but these were my experiences. Hope no one isn't offended.

If you guys notice, I changed the rating to be M because I will keep building Ale and Paul's relationship slowly to be more intimate as time passed by, and we are dealing some heavy stuff. This is probably just me being paranoid, but I rather keep it M just to be safe. Also, don't expect them to have sex right away, and there is a reason why they haven't just yet so just wait and see.

I know, I have been dragging some things out. I'm sorry, I want the interaction/relationships to be built naturally, and I don't want this story to just keep going one plot to another back-to-back. Then it would be chaotic, and too much for me a first-time writer to do.

Ale and Bella are gonna confront. We will get to see Bella reaction in two more chapters. I haven't forgotten about the plotline with Brady and Collin. Also, in few chapters, I will explain why Paul's eyes keeps flashing silver when its been awhile since Paul imprinted on Ale if anyone is wondering.

I am going to deal with those things shortly, and we are slowly entering the Breaking Dawn section of the series, clearly things have changed, so I hope you guys are looking forward to that.

As always, reviews are very much appreciated.