Christmas was wonderful. The pack, as Jacob called them, had no problem ridding me of everything I baked and cooked, which made me feel better about them having to 'work' on Christmas.

I was really thankful Jacob and I had our little conversation when we did, because we were able to really relax and enjoy our time together and with family, even considering the possible threat of danger nearby. But the wolves, as well as Rosalie and Emmett, hadn't caught any sign, or I guess I should say scent, of psycho Cullen anywhere nearby.

I was ecstatic when Jacob told me Rachel's idea of getting away. Even though it was only Seattle, I knew the distance away from everything, and the time alone together could only be good for Jacob and me.

"So are you excited about getting out of here?" He asked as we pulled out of my driveway. I rolled my eyes at him, smiling.

"You know I am. I'm just happy to get you to myself for once. It just seems like we haven't had any 'us' time in months!"

While that was a little of an exaggeration, since all of these changes had taken place in just the past few weeks, it was definitely true we hadn't had any time to ourselves. And when we did see each other, we had fought for half of it, and the other half we were so exhausted, we ended up just falling asleep.

"Yeah, I know. But we finally have one whole week with no interruptions. Just you and me, no wolves, no leeches, no arguing, and no sister." He emphasized the last part and I couldn't help but giggle. We hadn't been together since his change, even though we had spent every night with each other. The other night, when he had told me about the imprint, things started getting hot, when his sister banged on the door, reminding us she was right next door.

Extreme mood killer.

"I do want to say though, that…..I'm kinda scared." He winced out.

"Huh? About what?"

"Well, I mean, I don't know how much…..control….I have in that area anymore." I could tell he was really uncomfortable with this conversation, his eyes glued to the highway ahead of us. And I didn't really handle awkward very good.

"Umm, when you say control, are we talking about the cocking the gun or the shooting the bullets?"

He let out a breath, visibly relaxing, and narrowed his eyes at me with a smirk.

"You're hilarious Swan. No, I'm talking about control over my strength." He straightened up, eyes back to the road. "I don't think it should be an issue, but…...it has been in the past."

"Excuse me?" I looked at him incredulously.

"No!" He jumped, realizing what he had said. "No, not with me! With Sam. The first time he and Emily were together, it wasn't long after his change, and he kinda….lost control."

"I thought you guys only changed when you were mad."

"No, it's basically anytime we just let go and give in to our wolf." He answered thoughtfully.

"Give in to your wolf?"

"Well, yeah." He said, looking over at me. "It's part of us now, well, I guess, it is us. When we're angry, and we can't get a handle on it, we let the wolf in us take over. It's like, we get so mad, filled with so much rage, that our human body just can't take it, so we change into the wolf, so we can handle it on a much larger scale."

I sat nodding my head.

"So, when you're with a woman-"

"Not just any woman." He reminded me.

"Right, when you're with your imprint, you have too much lust to control-"

"Love, Swan. Not lust, love."

"Ok. Well, that sounds kinda sweet." He looked at me like I was nuts. "No, I mean the fact that you have more love that your body can handle, that you have to…." I trailed off as I realized what I was getting ready to say.

"Now you're getting it." He chuckled darkly.

"Oh God. Sam changed during…"

"Yup."

"How…..how did she survive?"

He snuffed out a breath before answering.

"Sam felt it coming on, but couldn't stop it, so he tried to push her away. But he had already started, and ended up clawing up half her body in the process. She survived, obviously, but she's scarred for life. Not to mention it was nearly a year before they could get past the fear and paranoia to ever try it again. They're ok now, I think. She swears she would never blame him for something like that, it wasn't his fault, and I completely believe her when she says it. But I think every time he sees her, it kills him to know what he did to her."

My heart broke for the two of them. Even though Emily forgave him, I'm sure she was terrified at the time, and I'm sure she carries that fear with her, whether she wants to admit it or not. And Sam, I couldn't imagine, not just living with the guilt of knowing you hurt the one you love, but actually seeing the scars everyday as a reminder, that could nearly drive someone insane.

"Hey." Jake said, squeezing my hand. "We don't have to do anything, you know? I mean, we can have a good time, whether we have sex or not, right?" I reached up and laid my hand on his cheek.

"Babe, I am comfortable with whatever you're comfortable with." I smiled at him and he smiled back, pulling my hand to his lips and kissing them. I sat back, relaxing against the seat, until I realized I had forgotten about something extremely important.

"Oh wait! I can't believe I forgot, how is Leah doing?" I felt horrible for not even asking about her.

"Oh, she's doing good, a bit more volatile than the rest of us were, but then again, it's Leah." We both chuckled at that.

"Yeah, she can be quite rabid. I thought she was gonna kill me…" I stopped at the sound of growling coming from his chest. "Alright Cujo, simmer down, I'm sorry I brought it up." I laid my hand on his arm and he relaxed again.

"Thanks. I just, I felt how scared you were, and I remember seeing you there, pinned to the house."

"Wait, you felt me?"

"Yeah. I know, it's weird, but it must be an imprint thing, but anytime you are experiencing an emotion particularly strongly, I can feel it. I was up in the woods, talking to the leeches, and I just got this really strong fear of dread and fear. I can't really explain it, but I just knew it was you. And then I could see through the others-"

"Wait, what?"

Remember, I told you when we're in wolf form, we can talk to each other through thoughts, well, we can see all of each other's thoughts, so by default, I can see what they're seeing, if they think about what they're seeing."

"Oh my gosh, you're gonna give me a migraine." I said, shaking my head. He laughed.

"Anyway, I could see bits and pieces of what was happening, her screaming and shaking, and I was so afraid I wasn't gonna get to you in time." I could see he was trembling, but not from anger this time. I gently rubbed his arm.

"Come on, Black, I'm right here." I said softly. He clenched his jaw and turned to face me, nodding silently. I didn't say anything for a couple minutes, waiting for him to gain his composure back. He finally blew out a breath and continued.

"So yeah, it was a little too close, but everything turned out ok. Oh, and even though it really did suck for Leah, she actually did get something out of it."

"Well, yeah !Now she's super she-wolf." I said rolling my eyes.

"No, idiot, that's not what I'm talking about." He smiled. She imprinted." I whipped my head up to face him.

"What? Seriously! That's...that's good, right?" He laughed.

"Of course it's good. She's happy, he's happy, and he's the only one of us who has any chance of controlling her, so the rest of us are happy too."

"So who was it?"

He turned and grinned at me, his eyes sparkling.

"Paul."

"Paul? The same Paul that can't control his temper, or his mouth?" He nodded. "Well there's a match made in hell." He barked out a laugh.

"Exactly what I said. But really, could you see anyone else putting up with either one of them? And ever since he imprinted, Paul's been much different, surprisingly. And, I'd say once she's out of this first stage of phasing, I think she'll be more like her old self."

"So, still a bitch, but just not a bitter bitch." We both cracked up laughing at that, and he agreed.

We spent the rest of the ride talking about normal everyday stuff, what we wanted to do for the week in Seattle, if we wanted to do anything for New Year's eve, or just stay in. We never really had done anything before, we normally just had Angela and Ben over and watched the cheesy new year's stuff until midnight, and then falling asleep to some old black and white movie. But this year we were a couple, and we were technically on vacation. But we had several days to decide.

By the time we got to Rachel's apartment, it had already started sleeting, so we decided to stay in the rest of the evening. She didn't have much in the way of food, so I settled for making some hoagies. We decided on The Blood and Ice Cream trilogy, and settled in while it snowed and sleeted outside. It was so much like old times, like the old us, I easily let myself forget all about the craziness we left down in Forks.

Ok guys, opinion time! Like I said in the last A/N, I know where my next plot point it, I'm just working on getting there and I have a couple different avenues. We could stay like this for a couple chapters, light and fluffy, with a lemon or two thrown in there, before the story takes another crazy turn, or we could just get right into the action. Realistically, I like to think these two could have a break every now and then, but I don't want to kill you with boredom either. Let me know what you think, and I'll start molding my next chapter.

Thanks so much for the support, and as always, keep those reviews coming!

-MSB