CHAPTER 2

Quil:

His heart was pounding as he ran. Of course, Quil's heart was usually pounding whenever he phased to run as a wolf, but the way it was sprinting furiously now made him wonder if it was in an unspoken competition with his brain to see who could outrun the other.

They both were winning. And Quil? Quil was losing.

Pregnant. The sixteen-year-old that he'd let himself fall in love with and treat like a completely formed adult even though he should have waited for her to be with… was pregnant.

He'd always known he was probably a bit of an idiot, but this unequivocally proved it. And not just an idiot but irresponsible, reckless and completely narcissistic also came to mind as well while he ran.

Maybe….. maybe she could just get rid of it? A tiny voice whispered nervously in the back of his mind.

The horrified gasp of disapproval followed by a chastising Quil! that rang through his mind in response was so real that he stopped mid-run to look around himself at the insignificant spot of forest around him. Of course there was no one. He was alone. Completely.

He hadn't even managed to give Bennett and Jamie an explanation as to why he was talking to himself as he grabbed his head and shook it as if trying to clear it by knocking lose everything ringing through it that wasn't making any sort of sense. He bolted for the door before he even knew what he was headed for. Looking back, he didn't think he'd even shut the front door when he'd left. He was pretty sure his t shirt was still on the front porch and that he'd left his pants on the front lawn. Hell, he was pretty sure that his boxer-briefs were left smack in the middle of the street and that he'd phased before he'd even hit the tree line.

He'd been running alone, both physically and in his mind, for hours. He had sent Ty and Leah home as soon as he'd joined the pack mind. Ty was super confused, but Leah had enough experience, both with Quil and as a wolf, that she didn't question it. She just barked at Ty to phase and then had shifted herself without waiting for him to first. Quil had caught the shock and thrill that Ty tried to shake at the sight of a naked Leah in front of him as she ran back the half mile to where she'd ditched her clothes before he seemed to realize that Quil had heard him and immediately shifted too.

That had all been at least three hours ago, and he knew that he was completely alone, but that didn't stop him from searching his mind trying to find the voice chastising him in it. He had stopped running for the first time, and he was standing bracing himself with his head between his two front legs as he tried to catch his breath when he realized that it wasn't a voice at all. It was a memory of a voice. Or more so his obvious imagination of a remembered voice and exactly what it would have said if it'd heard that small seemingly incongruous thought.

How can you even THINK such a thing! Quil, it's just a baby! YOUR baby!

the voice spoke again and Quil almost laughed to himself at hearing a voice he hadn't heard or even distinctly thought of in the last decade.

I know, Nan. I know. Quil replied repentantly. I'm sorry.

His grandmother Ateara's voice huffed a little indignantly in response, before saying, It's your child, Quil. YOUR child, growing inside of the woman that you love. How can there be any question at all about what you need to do?

Quil's eyes filled with unexpected tears at the onset of emotion that coursed through him at her words. Fear, panic, weight, and indecision were all raining down on him but there was also some love, excitement, and gratitude.

It was always a little strange for Quil to feel his eyes with tears in them but in this form, it was especially bizarre. It made him feel vulnerable and that was something he was not used to as a wolf, nor did he like it. He shook his head to try to clear them and dry his eyes and it worked but then he suddenly heard his own voice speaking in his mind 'MY child', and his eyes filled with tears again, followed by the image of a naked Claire. Not from his memory this time but just from his mind.

She was turned looking over her shoulder, smiling at him. It was that contented smile of hers that he only ever got in really good moments, moments where she didn't just love him but where she could also tangibly feel his love for her as well because it was so big, so real, she couldn't not feel it. She turned toward him slightly from where she was facing away from him and as she did, she moved her arm around her so that he could suddenly see the distinctive outline of her completely swollen middle she was now cradling. Quil could see every detailed outline of her midsection, from every vein and even stretch mark that spanned from the side of her breast down through her elongated belly to her belly button that seemed to have flipped itself inside out so that it was now the farthest point of her body, pointing outward so far from where it had initially started within her that he doubted if she could even see her legs and feet without leaning forward to look over her entire extended midriff. She sighed and then bit her lip as she looked down at herself and then ran a hand softly and lovingly down her belly.

"He's moving so much! I feel like I can't breathe every time he scoots up against my lungs." She sighed happily and shrugged a little regretfully as if breathing wasn't of any real consequence before she turned to look back at him.

And then, before he could even respond, the vision of Claire completely imploded, and everything was gone.

He was alone in the wet moss-covered forest again. Completely this time. There was no sight of Claire. No remembered voice of his grandmother. Just him alone in his own head… and it was completely terrifying. He immediately realized that the terrifying part should be the hearing and seeing things that weren't there, not the being alone without them. And yet he'd much rather feel their comforting presence near him again then be alone with his sanity.

'Claire-' he tried to call back out to her resulting in a whine escaping his mussel.

It sounded harsh and sharp. Like an animal in pain. Suddenly he realized that was what he was.

He shook his head slowly back and forth more out of sheer confusion than anything else. His grandmother would make it seem so simple if she were here. Marry her! she would say, and Quil could almost hear her voice saying it but the clarity of her presence still evaded him. Marry her!

That is definitely what any sane, reasonable person in his life would say for him to do.

It should be so simple. The way to get from where he was now (alone and lost in the woods) to where he wanted to be (back with a happy Claire, completely content and ready to have his baby) and yet he knew that just the mere act of marrying her would change nothing about the situation that he was so concerned about.

Marrying her wouldn't change the fact that she was still sixteen. She wouldn't even be seventeen for another five months. Marrying her wouldn't change the fact that she was still in high school with two years left to go. There was no way that even with advanced home schooling she could finish before the baby would be born. Home schooling would probably become her only reasonable option once the baby was born and she'd already expressed her desire against that. What about college? Degrees, plans, traveling? Marrying her wouldn't fix or enable any of that.

There was a very real part of him that was terrified for her body and health as well. The veins and stretch marks across her skin in his vision had made him think of the physical consequences of this pregnancy for the first time. Claire wasn't even finished fully developing yet. Could her body handle something like this? Any child of his had to be big and strong. He'd been 10 lbs 8 oz at birth. He knew it for a fact because his mom ALWAYS talked about how difficult his birth had been on her. She'd pushed for close to four hours and had torn pretty severally (Thanks, mom, for THAT imagery!) before an emergency c-section had been done because even as her second baby, he'd simply been too big to birth. Could Claire's body handle something like that? At twenty-six, or thirty-six with good doctors and advanced medicine? Sure. At sixteen? Quil had his doubts. What would this baby do to her, if not tear her apart from the inside out for nine months before hopefully having a semi successful birth, but there'd be no doubt that though she might recover, she'd never be the same after something like that.

Quil suddenly thought he might vomit. What had he done to her? Willingly and knowingly done to her. A girl whose body wasn't even finished developing yet, whose brain wasn't even fully formed? Who was only halfway through high school? Who had dreams and hopes and who'd lived a safe and protected life so that she'd never been burned and scarred by ugliness? He'd seen the beauty in that girl, and he'd taken it all from her. Every last ounce of it. The hope and naivete, the future and plans, he'd stolen all of it.

The bile was rising in his throat causing him to choke on it in his wolf form. He cleared his throat and shook his head some more knowing that the downward spiral he was currently surfing wasn't helping anything. It was done. He couldn't change that now. Claire was pregnant and the only thing he could do now was support her in however she wanted to handle it.

The thought suddenly occurred to him that however much this pregnancy was, and would continue to be, an effect on him, it was all happening to her. She was alone and dealing with it. She didn't even know that he knew. She didn't want to tell him because her sixteen-year-old pregnant and hormonal brain thought he was acting crazy and didn't want to tell him. He could easily imagine that with everything she was going through she simply couldn't deal with his reaction to the news.

He took a breath as he realized that the very first thing he needed to do was be there with her. He needed to figure out how she felt and make sure her doctors' appointment had gone well. He needed to make sure she was okay, at least physically, before he figured out their next step. He needed to talk to her.

He nodded his head, agreeing with himself as he thought it. He gave himself literally five more seconds to freak out before he'd go back to talk with her.

One.

-Claire was pregnant.

Two.

-She was going to be a teen mom.

Three.

-He was going to be the over-thirty-year-old baby-daddy that knocked up a sixteen-year-old.

Four.

-His kid was probably going to be a freakish, giant wolf-baby.

Five.

-He was going to be a father.

That thought rang through him much stronger than he'd imagined it ever would. It was absolutely terrifying.

He had no idea how to be a father. His closest example had been a man in his sixties who had slowed down considerably by the time Quil had come along. He didn't even know how to change a diaper. He didn't know how to be an example of what a man should be (that thought was clear. He had just knowingly seduced, deflowered, and then knocked up a sixteen-year-old girl he was responsible for). As upset as he was that he knew Claire wasn't ready to be a parent yet, it was abundantly clear to him that she was much more ready and able to be a parent than he was.

With that terrifying thought ringing through his head, he forced himself to turn back around. To stop thinking about it. All of it. The baby, what he was going to do, even Claire's pregnancy. He just emptied his mind and he simply ran. He ran as hard and as fast as he could back towards home. He ran so fast that in less than twenty minutes he was back where he had started even though it hadn't taken him hours to get to the point where he had stopped. It probably helped that this time he was running in a straight line.

He could see Claire's house from his spot just behind the trees where he'd stopped. Bennett's car was still parked out front where Quil usually parked the Camaro. Bennett knows. He thought to himself and the thought sent a chill straight through him. He shivered as he phased back to human, but he wasn't sure if it was from the thought or the shift. He refused to let himself think about it as he searched around looking for his clothes. He found his boxer-briefs first. They were indeed in the middle of the street and they looked a little like they had been run over, plus they were wet from sitting out in the open on the wet pavement as it drizzled on and off. Great. He thought sarcastically as he carelessly moved to them and grabbed them before he realized he hadn't taken any sort of precautions to make sure no one saw him even before he had shifted.

He knew he must be out of it because he was never so irresponsible. He figured he could just add it to the growing list of things he could be pissed at himself about as he yanked them on somehow both simultaneously stiff and wet. He growled to himself about it as he made his way to the front yard where his once gray but now just muddy colored pants lay. He shoved them on as well before he started looking for his shirt he'd abandon.

He searched the entire yard and porch but came up completely empty. He had no idea where his shirt was. He suddenly wondered if one of the family members had grabbed it and taken it inside before he ran a frustrated hand through his hair and made his way to the door. It was raining and even though he couldn't feel the chill of it, he was eager to get out of it. He had just reached the door and his hand moved of his own accord to the handle to open it when he stopped himself. Claire was probably on the other side of the door and he needed to get his head on straight before he faced her.

He took a deep breath and then when that didn't help, he took another. Still nothing. He was just as keyed up as he'd been before. What he really needed was a good strong drink and was wondering if he'd be better off going and getting it before going inside to have this conversation.

He'd almost decided to when he remembered something far more effective…. The way Claire had kissed him the day Ali and her friends had died. He'd tried to drink the shock away with almost no effect when she had poured the life directly back into him with her kiss alone.

And with that thought hanging over him, he opened the door and walked through it if only to escape the thoughts and memories lingering right behind him.

As he stepped into the front room he immediately tried to take in the scene before him. Rachel and Travis were making their way up the stairs and (per usual) seemed to be in their own little world. Claire was standing by the door to the attached garage, holding onto Jamie's shoulder in front of her as she wiped at the tears leaking from her eyes.

Shit! She's crying. Quil immediately thought to himself as his heart lurched painfully in his chest like it was trying to physically reach out to her.

Bennett was sitting on the couch, but he was making eye contact with Claire and shaking his head back and forth like he simply couldn't process something. Quil had a pretty good idea what that something must be.

"Claire." Quil said aloud for the first time bringing everyone's attention to the fact that he'd just come in. His voice sounded both angry and desperate at the same time. Maybe it was. Maybe he was.

Her head immediately snapped up to look at him in surprise before her expression changed to concern. She looked him up and down from his clearly wet and dirty, smashed clothes to his body and hair that he had no idea what state were in.

"Quil?" she asked in that same what-are-you-doing-here tone she'd used that morning.

"Hey." He said a little awkwardly as he ran a hand through his hair. He had no idea how to do this and his entire body was shaking again. This time he figured it was a self-defense mechanism since if he phased, he wouldn't have to deal with this, he could maybe even outrun this.

"Is everything okay?" she asked worried while she continued to eye him, and he saw her eyes focus in on his arm still held above him with his hand in his hair and realized that he was shaking so visibly she could see it from across the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Bennett asked in an acidic, clearly frustrated tone.

Quil shook his head. His emotions where so confusing he was worried they'd tear him apart right there in the living room. He was worried and concerned about Claire, freaked out and panicked about the pregnancy, and completely pissed off at Bennett's insubordinate attitude all at the same time.

"Can we talk?" he managed to choke out without ever looking at her. Without looking at anyone. He was afraid if he looked at Claire he'd cry about the entire future he'd stolen from her with his selfish carelessness, and if he looked at Bennett he was afraid he'd lose it and either phase or hit him, and if he looked at Jamie there was a very real chance he'd just start begging the five year old for life advice because at this point he'd take it from anyone who gave it confidently enough.

"Again?" Jamie's voiced asked in confusion.

Quil's eyes snapped to him standing in front of Claire with one of his little arms wrapped under her butt like he had his arm wrapped around her where his shoulder hit her in height. He smiled at him sympathetically, giving him his attention for the first time that day. He reminded Quil of how Claire had been at that age. So sharp, so observant. Something like this going on with the adults around her never would have escaped her notice either.

Quil smiled sympathetically at him as he crouched down to Jamie's height even from across the room.

"Yeah buddy. I'm sorry but I need to steal your sister again for a little bit." He replied in his normal voice and realized that that was the first time he'd said what he'd wanted to, in the voice and tone he'd wanted to say it in, all day. His heart lurched painfully with guilt at the phrase 'steal your sister' though. He'd already done that.

"What are you doing?" Jamie asked in a confused voice as he looked skeptically at Quil crouched overed just as Butch came running up and began licking his face. Quil hadn't even realized that Butch was sitting by Bennett's legs next to the couch until he moved to him.

"I'm hoping you'll come give me a hug, man." Quil answered easily as for once he let Butch lick at his face instead of pushing him away.

"You're kind of super gross." Jamie answered in his usual tone of too brutal honesty. "Like super wet and dirty."

Quil just sighed as he looked down at himself and stood as he patted Butch on the side. Jamie was right. He was pretty nasty, but there was nothing he could do about it now, so he simply shrugged before making eye contact with Claire again.

His heart lurched as soon as their eyes connected. She was searching him, looking at him in obvious concern and he so badly wanted to look at her with reassurance. To make her think he'd always be able to make everything okay the way he'd been able to when she was Jamie's age, but he couldn't. Not this time. This time he didn't think he could fix it. Only do his best to cause the least amount of damage to their situation moving forward.

He cleared his throat and spoke before anyone else would have the chance to. He was afraid of what they'd say first if he didn't take control of the situation immediately.

"You ready?" he asked her softly but again with the same tone of too intense command from that morning.

"Are you serious?" Bennett asked coldly before Claire could responded. "Again? Why can't you just leave her alone. She needs a rest from this shit."

Quil snapped as he brought his full attention back to Bennett. He was so angry in response he'd probably categorize it as irrational at this point. Probably because there was so much truth to his words. Claire did need to rest, and he had done nothing but disrupt and fight with her all day… not that he would ever admit that to Bennett.

"Yeah? And how in the hell do you think you know what Claire needs?" Quil challenged with obvious aggression and Bennett stood up from the couch in response as he raised his eyebrows in clear shock and frustration. The look he was giving him made it clear that he wasn't backing down though. This kid clearly needs to learn his place. Quil thought to himself as he suddenly wondered if he even had enough control to force them both outside before things escalated any farther. They definitely needed to be in a place where they could both phase if he was going to handle this the way he wanted to. The way he was dying to.

"Guys." Claire warned assertively as she took a step forward around Jamie clearly trying to protect him and yet get between the two men in front of her.

"A hell of a lot more than you do about it. I'm the one who's actually been here to hold her when she cries, not the arrogant bastard making her. Why don't you just run away, Quil? Clearly that's what your best at." Bennett replied coldly, completely ignoring Claire's warning as he took a step forward clearly stepping up in threat to Quil even though he was still at least five feet away.

"Excuse me?" Quil said surprisingly calmly seeing as he was seeing red and shaking violently. His voice may have seemed calm, but he certainly wasn't, and the deadly threat laced in with it was obvious to everyone in the room. "Who do you think you're talking to, Newbie? What? You think because you can't get a handle on your own damn imprint you'll just try to step in with mine? Think again and stepped back, Callahan, while you still can.

The threat was clear in his voice as he stepped forward almost closing the gap as Bennett toed up to him meeting him directly in the eye since the most damn annoying thing about Bennett sharing his genes, was that, though slightly smaller in size than Quil still, he was exactly his same height.

"Oh yeah? Or what are you gonna do about it, Ateara?" Bennett taunted like the idiot he was instead of taking the out that Quil was generously giving him seeing as they were both shaking violently and there was only one way that this was going to end if he didn't.

"Guys!" Claire tried to step in again but this time in a more reasonable voice but neither of them really heard her before Bennett spoke again.

"I didn't see you here to do anything about it last night, while I was holding her in bed all night."

The air was sucked out of the room in a split second as everyone stood in shock before Quil reacted.

It was simple.

He was an alpha wolf and Bennett was literally standing on his territory threatening him. There was only one way to respond, and it wasn't a way that required any thought process at all. His arm wasn't shaking when it pulled back and slammed fist first into Bennett's jaw which immediately gave way with an incredibly satisfying crack AND a click that meant it had more than likely dislocated.

Claire shrieked in obvious shock and horror and Butch started barking as the momentum from the hit made Bennett fall back on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. The kid wasn't shaking either as he looked up in fury at Quil still standing above him before he spat a mouthful of blood directly on the floor and then used his arms on the mat to throw himself forward powerfully and directly toward Quil.

Quil welcomed it. Was eager for it. For the fight to prove his dominance. The fight that should have happened a year ago to prove to the kid who'd asked Claire to homecoming who she really belonged to. He was eagerly bracing to take Bennett's impact instead of avoiding it when Claire was suddenly there. Right there. Standing in front of him so that she was between him and Bennett facing him as he charged Quil. She did it so fast that even with his supernatural athleticism Bennett didn't have time to stop himself and could only change the direction of his momentum as he grabbed her shoulders with both of his hands and held her to him as he twisted to absorb the impact of his own momentum and landed heavily on the couch next to them with Claire on top of him.

Quil was too shocked by Claire's unexpected move to intervene that he didn't have time to react before she was shoving off of Bennett's chest and looking down at his bloody mess of a jaw in disgust before shaking her head and muttering in disbelieve, "I can't believe you did that."

She stood up off of him at the same time she twisted to face Quil and put herself directly between him and Bennett as she placed a hand on Quil's bare chest right above his abs as if her touch would physically restrain him. The sad part was that it actually did.

"I can't believe you just hit him!" Claire accused looking up at him angrily. It didn't escape his notice that when she'd said almost the same thing to Bennett, she'd said it with a tone of disbelieve and yet when she said it to him it was an angry accusation. "I think his jaw is broken! What the hell were you thinking!?"

"He wasn't." Bennett muttered from the couch in a muffled voice as he tried to unsuccessfully reset his jaw with both of his hands.

Quil immediately stepped forward to reach around Claire and try to smack at the back of Bennett's head in response but Claire was suddenly pushing and shoving against him.

"No!" she yelled before becoming even more emphatic as her eyes filled with tears and Quil suddenly realized how pissed she really was. "NO! What the hell is WRONG with you, Quil!?" she shrieked desperately.

"Claire!" Quil defended in frustration as he gestured roughly down at Bennett like it was obvious.

"Nothing happened between us last night and you should know me well enough to know that!" she yelled at him with her hand still touching his skin and tears now streaming down her cheeks before she dropped her touch on him to wipe at them as she took a step away from him and said, "Besides, even if something had happened, YOU broke up with ME, remember?"

"-You broke up?" Jamie asked in an almost broken voice before Quil could reply at the same time Rachel and Travis suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs looking down to obviously see what the disturbing commotion was.

"No, Jamie." Claire said reassuringly at the same moment Quil said reasonably, "Yes, but-"

He stopped as he and Claire looked at each other in obvious surprise and confusion at their blatant contradiction of each other.

"Look, Jamie, we broke up but it's not like I'm not still just a big a part of this family or Claire's life." Quil looked away from Claire as he tried to explain it to Jamie who immediately started crying.

Bennett was suddenly there in front of Jamie sweeping him up in his arms and holding him to his chest despite his still mess of a bloody jaw before Quil could even respond and that move alone made him want to hit him again.

"Quil!" Claire gasped in a tone that he couldn't identify because he'd never heard it from her before. It wasn't until his head snapped to look at her with her hand on his chest again that he identified it based on the look she was giving him. Disgust.

He opened his mouth to say that he was just trying to be honest with him since lying to Jamie was clearly not going to help the situation, but Claire cut him off before he could say anything.

"Just go, Quil! I don't even know what you're doing here. I don't even know who you are."

"Claire…." Quil said in obvious disbelieve and frustration. "Look we still need to talk even if you're upset with me."

She narrowed her eyes at him in skepticism and frustration before she shook her head and said, "Nu-uhh. Not again, not today. Just go, Quil."

Quil shook his own head in return even fully aware that he had an audience of Jamie with Bennett and Travis and Rachel, but not caring how he looked as long his point came across even if just to her.

"No, Claire. I'm not leaving until we talk about this. What's going on with you is more important than all of this shit. I'll take Jamie, I'll sit him down and explain what happened between the two of us and then-" he cut off when she gave him a look of disgust again.

"No, you won't. I'll talk to Jamie in my own time when I think it's right. Get out, Quil. You aren't wanted or welcome here." She said, clearly throwing down the gauntlet.

Quil huffed in frustration at her as he placed both of his hands on his head and turned to the side to breathe for a moment since he'd started shaking again and she was standing too close to him. He clenched his gut to control it before he turned back to look at her and said simply,

"No, I can't leave until we talk about this."

Bennett growled out loud and even Travis took a step down the stairs like he was getting ready to intervene when Claire responded, stopping both of them.

"Fine!" she huffed dramatically before taking a huge breath in and saying much more reasonably, "Fine. You wanna talk? Fine. I'll meet you at the park we used to walk Butch at in an hour. But get out."

She said it so seriously and looked at him so disdainfully that Quil wasn't sure what she'd do if he didn't agree. It wasn't his first choice to leave and simply agree to talk to her later, but he didn't see what choice he had as he threw up his hands again and took a step back away from her and toward the door as he said simply, "Fine. I'll meet you in an hour."

"Fine!" She said back like it was a rebuttal as he took another step backwards.

"Fine." He repeated, and she gave him an annoyed looked while she squinted her eyes and smashed her lips like she wanted to mock him for it but couldn't think of a response. Quil rolled his eyes at her like he thought she was stupid as he opened the door and she yelled, "Fine!" back at him again but even more agitated this time.

"Fine!" He yelled right back in the same way as he slammed the door behind him like that made sure he had the last word in.

He huffed in frustration as he made his way off the porch and then down the walk before he put his hand to his forehead and moaned aloud as he walked barefoot down the road toward the park. One thing was blatantly obvious, even as justified as he felt in his anger, that had clearly not been either his or Claire's best moment. At least, she had the facts that she was only sixteen and pregnant.

That would explain her immature and irrational behavior. But what would explain his? What was his excuse?