Break Before Dawn

Roisin sat on the couch, hugging a pillow as she watched the TV. Tara's miraculous return was all the news stations were talking about, even in Seattle. The teen girl thought whisked out to sea in a rip current was found alive (and relatively well) over two weeks later at a hospital in another town, though she couldn't remember anything.

Roisin had already been fielding phone calls and text messages from Megan, Trey and other students at Forks High. Even Tara's parents had called and asked her to stop by the hospital, but Roisin couldn't bring herself to go just yet.

Everything was still a bit too fresh.

As soon as Tara had woken up that morning, Sean erased her memories of the attack and time in Shadow. All she remembered was going surfing and then wandering along the coast, wanting to go back home before being taken to a hospital where for a time she couldn't remember who she was. Sean had gone with Sam and Paul to the hospital and altered enough memories there that they could get away with it, then explained as much as they could to Chief Swan when they gave him an "anonymous" tip of where to find her.

Everything after that happened rather quickly.

"So she's home?"

Roisin turned, seeing Mae walk into the living room still in her pajamas. Roisin nodded and turned back to the TV, watching yet another report.

"And no one is none the wiser," she said dryly, reaching for her phone and looking down at it, seeing more text messages pouring in.

"My phone was going crazy. Had to turn it off," Mae said. Roisin looked over at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. She never knew Mae to turn her phone off. "Just wanted to sleep…"

Right. Mae had been in Shadow Court as well. Roisin swallowed and then reached out for her hand.

"He didn't… did he hurt you?" she asked softly. Mae's eyebrows rose as she shook her head quickly, letting go of her.

"No. Cathal knew better than to do anything to me," she said. She then frowned as she looked to the TV. "Wish Tara had gotten better treatment…"

Roisin sighed and looked back at the TV as well.

"It was all my fault. She was only taken because Cathal found out I was here," she said glumly. "And then last night… someone could have seriously gotten hurt and it would have been my fault as well."

Neither said anything for a few moments before Mae reached over and took Roisin's hand.

"But she's okay now. She's going to be okay," Mae insisted. "And it wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself."

Roisin snorted as she pulled her hand away and wrapped her arms around the pillow again.

"It is," Roisin said.

"Well… maybe we should go back. Go somewhere where we can't hurt mor-"

"I told you. I'm not going back," Roisin snapped looking over at Mae. "I can't go back."

Mae looked at her a moment and then opened her mouth to speak, but Roisin stood, cutting her off.

"We're leaving Forks, but I will not go back to the Fae world," she said, starting towards the kitchen.

"This is about Paul."

Roisin stopped and turned around, seeing Mae frowning at her as she stood.

"This is all because of that damn mortal you think you're in love with," Mae shouted.

"I do love him," Roisin said. "Mae, we've imprinted-"

"Right. Some sort of weird wolf thing. Whatever," Mae said, already starting toward the stairs.

"Mae-"

"I'm done with this. I'll be packing," Mae shouted back, ending the conversation.

Roisin groaned and continued into the kitchen, finding Cara perched on a counter, a mug of tea in her hands.

"That sounded like fun," Cara said dryly.

Roisin sighed as she walked over to the fridge and pulled it open, grabbing a bottle of water.

"That's Mae. You know how she is. Still not sure why she wants to go back," she replied as she walked over and sat down at the island. "Where's Sean?"

"Checking out something in town," Cara said with a shrug as she hopped off the counter and walked over to Roisin. "How you feeling?"

"I'm… it's okay," Roisin said, frowning slightly. Cara chuckled.

"Surprised Wolf Boy's not nere," she said.

"He had to take care of some things at home. Pack up stuff. Talk to his dad and all," Roisin said. "He'll be here later tonight."

Cara leaned against the island, staring across it at Roisin. She couldn't help but squirm slightly under her intense scrutiny, not sure where this was coming from or what the Shadow fae would say next. She never really could tell with Cara, though she had long ago learned to trust her.

"You ever think you should stay?" Cara said finally. Roisin frowned and shook her head.

"No. You've seen everything that's happened. It's not safe for others being here," Roisin said. Cara rolled her eyes. "Cathal took my friend! And then tried to take me and Sean!"

"He would have done that anyway. May try to do it again, though not for a long time, I gather. You whooped him pretty good," Cara said, smiling slightly.

"This is more than just a fight, Cara. We could have a war on our hands and I really don't want that," she said sternly.

"Listen up, Ro. I'm going to be straight with you. There's always been a war even though you seem keen on burying your head in the sand. And you - yes, you - can stop it," Cara said sternly. "I'm not saying go back to your brother or even going to Winter. We all know marrying Rian won't stop his bloodlust. But facing him - fighting him - just might."

Roisin's eyes widened slightly as she felt her heart falter. Facing Rian? Fighting him? She didn't have the strength. Her chest grew tight as his eyes filled her mind.

"I can't do that," Roisin whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "I can't face him."

"You can," Cara said softly. Roisin opened her eyes and looked across the island, finding a look of understanding in the Shadow fae's eyes. "From what I've seen lately, there's a hell of a lot you can do, Ro. A lot you might not even realize. And you'll always have me and Sean with you. Paul. We'll fight with you."

"But I don't… I want…" Roisin looked away, her brow furrowed as her heart raced. Face Rian? Was Cara losing it? She couldn't do that. It would put everyone she cared about at risk. They could get hurt or die. Rian wouldn't hesitate to kill any of them.

Roisin shook her head and stood abruptly.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I needed to pack," she said, starting towards the archway.

"Ro," Cara called out. Roisin stopped and looked over at her. The fae moved quickly, now in front of her. Cara took her hands and squeezed them. "It's going to be okay."

"Okay," Roisin said.

"But I was thinking… you can't just leave without saying good-bye," Cara said. "Don't know about you, but I'm going to miss the wolves." Roisin frowned slightly. What was she talking about? "I think we should have a farewell party."

"A party?" Roisin asked, her face clearly saying she didn't think it was a good idea. What was it with people and parties? Hadn't they all learned by now that a party didn't fix anything? Cara chuckled.

"Not a Mae party. Maybe a cookout. Invite the packs and the Cullens. Maybe the other fae," Cara said. Roisin still didn't speak. "Come on. You know you'll regret it if you don't. And it'll help Paul. He is leaving all his friends for you."

Roisin took a deep breath, the familiar sense of guilt welling up in her. She was taking him away from everything he knew. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay. I'll tell Paul," she said. Cara smiled and hugged her.

"It's going to be fine," she said softly.

"I hope so…"

OOOO

Paul stood in his room, looking around. He didn't have a lot to begin with, but it felt weird seeing all his things packed up in boxes, ready for Sean to come pick them up. Sighing, he sat down on his bed, looking around. His whole life packed up into a few boxes.

While he knew that eventually one day he would be moving out, he never thought it would be like this. Going on the run. It was a bit overwhelming when he stopped to think about it too much. Which is why he tried not to go too deep.

He loved Roisin. He wanted to be with her. Keep her safe. And that's what he was doing.

"You already packed up?"

Paul looked up, seeing his father standing in his doorway. His weathered eyes scanned the room before stopping on him. Paul nodded. Sighing, Ben walked over and sat on the bed next to him. Paul glanced at him as his father seemed to be searching for words. He shifted around a bit, not completely comfortable with the situation, but knew that he needed to talk to his dad.

"It's going to be okay, you know?" Paul said. "I'll be fine."

Ben looked over at him, a small smile appearing as he shook his head and then rubbed his face as he leaned over on his knees.

"I know. But I'm still going to worry about you. I'm your dad. It's my job," he replied. "And you're not going to school or anything. You're going on the run."

Paul took a deep breath, wondering if he shouldn't have told his father everything about why he was leaving. Okay, so he hadn't exactly told him everything - had left out some things about what happened with Rian and Ro. But he was already starting to slightly regret it. He didn't want his father even more worried about him.

"But I get it. She's your imprint. You need to keep her safe," Ben continued. Paul nodded. "Just… be careful."

"I will, Pops," Paul said. Ben just shot him a look. Paul rolled his eyes. "I'm not that rash."

"You are sometimes. And never underestimate love. It'll make you do crazy things," Ben said with a soft chuckle. "Like going on the run with a woman you just met a few months ago."

"Imprint," Paul muttered, causing Ben to chuckle again.

"I get it. I may not fully understand it, but I do know that you care about her," Ben said, reaching over and placing and hand on Paul's shoulder. "Am I going to get to meet her before you leave?"

Paul chuckled and nodded.

"Yea, hopefully," he said. He felt a buzz in his pocket and pulled out his phone, reading Roisin's text. "Apparently soon. She's doing a farewell cookout with everyone. Said to bring you."

Ben's face lit up slightly. While he knew about wolves and vampires, Paul could tell his father was more than excited to meet the fae.

"She'll look normal to you," Paul said with a chuckle. "Unless you ask nicely. Then she might let you see more."

"But you see her all the time… as she is?" Ben asked. Paul nodded as he pushed up from the bed.

"More or less. She still tempers herself. Helps her to stay hidden," he replied, walking over to check a small box on his desk.

"And this Sean… he's okay with this?" Ben asked. Paul's eyebrows rose slightly as he looked over his shoulder at his father. "Just… the way you talk about all of them. Sounds like they're close."

"They are. And he understands. He's fine with everything," Paul said, turning back to his box. Though part of him wondered a bit. He already felt like there was more to that relationship, but didn't want to push it.

Roisin wanted him to come. Sean was okay with him going with them. Paul didn't want to try his luck.

"Well… guess, I'll let you finish up with this," Ben said, pushing up from the bed. "You staying here tonight?"

"Yea, though about to go over to Jared's for a bit," Paul said, rifling through the box.

"Okay. I'll have dinner ready for you when you get back," Ben said, already stepping out of the room.

Paul stopped and looked over his shoulder, sadness filling his chest. He knew he was doing the right thing by going with Roisin. And that not going would be far more painful than this. But he was going to miss La Push.

OOOO

Paul was surprised to find Sam and Jacob in the gameroom at Jared's house. When they made plans to hang out, he had assumed that Embry and Quil would be there - which they were - but hadn't been expecting the two alphas to show up as well.

He fidgeted slightly and then walked over to the mini fridge, pulling out a soda, before walking over and sitting on the old couch.

"Do not tell me that you're all here for some sort of touchy-feely bullshit," he said, popping the tab open.

"Hey, I didn't invite them," Jared said from where he was playing a game of pool with Quil. "They just showed up."

"Embry told us you were hanging out," Jacob said, glancing at Embry, who shot wide and completely missed the dart board.

Embry frowned at him before walking over to pull the darts out.

"Didn't realize it was an exclusive thing," he said, slightly defensively as he handed the darts over to Jacob.

"It's not, I guess," Paul said, looking over at Sam who was shaking his head slightly, a small smile on his face.

"Just thought it would be nice to hang out a bit. You are leaving soon," Sam said, turning his attention to Paul. "You packed?"

"Yea, didn't take much. I think Sean is going to come by and get everything tomorrow. I'll stay with them until we head out," Paul said. "Oh, but Ro's doing a cookout-"

"Yea, she called me to let me know," Sam said, cutting him off. Paul looked up at him, wondering exactly when Roisin got his alpha's number. "Emily and I are helping with the food."

"I'm not sure what she's going to have me doing, but probably a lot," Paul said with a chuckle.

The conversation waned a bit as Jared and Quil kept up their game of pool and Jacob continued to beat Embry at darts. Paul chuckled at Embry's attempts to trash talk, finding that he really was going to miss seeing the packs all the time. Sam glanced over at him and then turned to face him.

"Where are you guys headed?" he asked.

"Some island in Southeast Asia," Paul said with a shrug. "We're not staying all that long. Just until all the final arrangements can be made for where we settle after that."

"Which is?"

"England. Another place that they think Darraugh won't look," Paul said, easily reciting off the plans they had been making.

While he would use his own passport to get to the island, Sean and Cara needed to get a new identity made for him and everything set up for them to "immigrate" to a new country.

At first it had all sounded rather complicated to him, but the more Sean explained things, the more Paul realized they had a good system. Helped that thanks to Sean being in the mortal world for so long, they had a substantial amount of money for everything. Apparently, he was good at making investments and owned property all over the world.

"Have you thought about what happens to you?" Sam asked softly. Paul glanced around the room, noticing that his friends had all stopped and were listening in.

"Well, I suppose if there are no vampires around, I'll stop shifting," he said nonchalantly. "Granted, I feel like there's always leeches around somewhere…"

"But you'll start aging again," Quil said. "If you're not shifting." Paul nodded slowly.

"That's what we're to believe," he replied.

"Ro won't age, though," Embry added.

"Thank you, Capt. Obvious," Paul said with a dry laugh.

To be honest, he and Roisin hadn't actually sat down and really discussed that. He wasn't completely sure how he felt about not being able to shift, other than he wouldn't be able to best protect Roisin. That he was going to miss. And well, being a wolf had given him a purpose. But he supposed his purpose now would be finding ways to keep Roisin safe, even if he could no longer shift. But at the same time, they weren't completely sure of everything when it came to fae and wolves. Maybe, like vampires, just being around them would let him keep shifting.

Or maybe not. He supposed they would find out when they arrived at the island.

The aging thing never bothered him, to be honest, though they would probably get weird looks the older he got. Yea, they should probably figure something out for that…

"So, you're seriously okay with the fact that you're going to die some day and your girlfriend won't," Embry said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"It's not like I ever thought there would be a way for me to be immortal," Paul said, frowning slightly. He then remembered what drinking a lot of fae wine would turn humans fae. And once he was out of Forks or at least away from vampires, he'd be completely human again.

Wait. Was that something he wanted to do? Live forever with Roisin?

"I think he just now realized that part," Quil whispered loudly to Embry.

"It's not that… I… we haven't really talked about the future, to be honest," Paul grumbled slightly. "And before you start, we're not avoiding it. Just hasn't been extremely high on the priority list lately. We'll get to it."

He looked around the room, finally meeting the sympathetic look that Jared was giving him.

"I thought you guys all wanted to be normal again," Paul said, looking down at his soda.

"Not me," Embry said with a snort.

"Or me," Quil added. "And Jacob will never have to find out." Paul looked up, seeing Jacob roll his eyes.

"The point is… how are you handling all of this? A lot's happened in a short amount of time. We're worried that you're going to overwhelm yourself," Sam said evenly. Paul was grateful that he hadn't said that they were worried he was making a mistake.

Was it a bit rushed? Yes. Even a bit reckless? Hell, yes. But Paul knew with every fiber of his being that going with Roisin and doing whatever he could to help her was the right thing to do. Even if he wasn't completely convinced the answer to her problems (well, he now supposed they were his problems too) lie outside of Forks and La Push.

"I'm still processing, if I'm being honest. But I know that I need to be with her," Paul answered.

"Even if she accidentally sets shit on fire?" Embry asked. Paul shot him a look. "Hey, I think it's cool."

"She can't really control it all that well. The only time she's done it was when she was really emotional," Paul said, thinking back to the day of the fight with Cathal.

The flames were only in her hair and her wings then, but he had no doubt she would be able to conjure them around her completely in time. Hell, he had seen her do that as well, though he wasn't sure he wanted to bring that up right now. He glanced up at Jared and Sam, giving a small shake of his head. Jared just chuckled as Sam rolled his eyes.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Quil asked.

"You saw the fight," Paul said, returning his attention to his soda.

"Yea, but… you've seen her do it before, haven't you," Quil said, starting to smile. Paul glanced up at him, sure that his cheeks were starting to fill with color, though he glared at the wolf, urging him to shut up.

At least Sam hadn't shared the information with Jacob. Or if he had, Jacob had kept it to himself. It was hard not to think about their first time together when both of them had erupted into flames when he saw her fight and watched as the fire had started to consume her again. And because of that, his entire pack now knew what had happened. Granted they all knew better than to say anything about it - especially in front of Paul.

"Yea, so?" Paul nearly growled, waiting for the inevitable teasing. Quil glanced at Embry and walked over, sitting in a chair. Both of them looked as though they had Paul right where they wanted him.

"Tell us, what emotions set your girlfriend on fire, literally?" Quil asked.

"You guys are idiots," Jacob muttered as Jared snorted. Sam even had the audacity to smile slightly, though covered it up quickly.

"Drop it," Paul said, narrowing his eyes at him, though Quil's grin only brightened as Embry walked over to him.

"Uh-uh," he said, his own grin just as bright. "It is… wuve?"

Quil chuckled as Embry pretended to make out with an invisible person.

At times, Paul forgot that they were still in high school. Right now he was definitely thinking they were in middle school.

"Knock it off," Sam ordered.

"Yea, I really don't care to have Paul destroy my gameroom," Jared added as Embry and Quil continued laughing and Paul continued glaring.

"Right," Embry replied wryly.

"I've beaten both of you before," Paul said, slowly standing from the couch and placing the can of soda on the coffee table.

They both shut up quickly as they saw the deadly smirk on his face. They knew that Paul was a stronger fighter and could probably take down both of them at the same time.

"Right, sorry," Quil said quickly.

"Same," Embry echoed.

Taking a deep breath, Paul returned to his original seat, picking up the can again.

"Now that that's over," Jared said. He looked over at Paul. "When do you think you'll come back? Or… will you be able to?"

"Hopefully," Paul replied. "But probably not for a while. We'll keep in touch, though. Maybe visit. Or you can come visit us somewhere…"

Silence fell over the room as the rest of the group - well namely Embry and Quil - finally realized that there was a chance that Paul wouldn't return. It was always there, even though Paul was choosing to be optimistic about it.

"You'll be safe, yea? Don't go starting fights you're not sure you can win," Embry said.

"Yea. Ro's going to need you to watch out for her," Quil added. Paul nodded.

"I'll be fine," he said easily.

"You'll always have a place here. All of you," Sam said solemnly.

Paul nodded, thinking this was exactly what he was hoping wouldn't happen when he came over today. Everyone getting mopey and shit. Glancing up at his best friend, Jared just chuckled and shook head.

"I'm not about to turn into a sentimental mess. Still need to finish beating Quil," he said, already turning back to the pool table. Paul sighed in relief as Embry and Quil walked back over to return to their games.

His eyes then fell on Jacob, who was watching him closely.

"What is it?" Paul asked, eager to get it out of the way.

"Just… come back someday, okay?" Jacob said. Paul's eyes widened slightly, not expecting him to say that.

Jacob then nodded before turning back to the dart board. Okay, well, Paul supposed it was good that he had finally accepted the fae and all. And himself. Could have happened a bit sooner, in his opinion, but whatever.

"Sam, Paul. Get over here. As soon as I kick Quil's ass, we're doing doubles," Jared said just before sending a ball into the corner pocket. Quil groaned.

Paul looked over at Sam and then stood. This was what he was looking for by coming over tonight.

"I'm with Jared…"

OOOO

Since I'm so close to finishing up all the writing, thought I would do a double post. As you can see, with the dust settling after the fight with Cathal, things are starting to catch up to Paul and Roisin. But definitely not going to post again until I get the last chapter finished. And yea, figure out the bonus chapter. Will still keep to posting one or two a day until I figure that out. But for now… I'm going to take a nap and then hopefully return to writing in a bit.

Thanks everyone for reading and following!