Chapter Twenty-Two

Jared was nervous. Nervous on a scale of epic proportions. So nervous, that it was almost as bad as how he felt before his first date with Kim, and he'd been beyond nervous then. He really wasn't doing such a great job of not letting his own nerves get to him like he promised himself he would…

But he felt like today's anxiety really was justified.

Because today Kim was meeting his parents. His parents were meeting his girlfriend.

What if they didn't like her? Because maybe they wouldn't see how amazing and perfect she was. Or maybe they wouldn't like her just because they didn't believe a teenage romance would last—because Jared knew his parents thought he was crazy that one time he'd accidentally referred to Kim as his soul mate. Okay, and maybe the fact that his parents didn't believe Kim was his soul mate was affecting Jared a lot more than he previously thought. But that was why he decided to invite her over tonight for dinner in the first place: so his parents could see firsthand just how wonderful Kim was.

But of course, there was always the chance that Kim would be the one who didn't like his parents.

Alright, so realistically that probably wasn't very likely. Kim didn't have a mean enough bone in her body to not like someone without a justifiable reason; and if she did, then Jared had certainly never seen it. If anything, he should probably be worrying that his mom and Kim would get along so well that his mom would pull out all of the embarrassing pictures of him she'd collected over the years for the very purpose of showing his future girlfriend.

Well this definitely might not end well.

Actually, considering the time he'd just noticed on the clock, the night was already off to a bad start because he was supposed to leave at least five minutes ago to pick up Kim.

Scrambling quickly for his car keys and a pair of shoes (the latter only because his mom was beginning to show concern about how often he went out without shoes and/or a shirt and it really wouldn't do for her to start questioning his mental stability), Jared quickly made his way to the front door and opened it to leave, only to be punched in the chest.

Well, in all fairness, the puncher had actually clearly been about to knock on the door. And really, Jared barely felt it—wolf genes and all that. Okay, so he really didn't notice being punched at all. But he did notice that Kim was suddenly in front of him, though, and she had her hand awkwardly raised against his chest.

"Kim!" Jared exclaimed with a broad smile, always happy to see his imprint.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry," Kim replied immediately, pulling her hand down with a horrified expression on her face.

"Sorry?" Jared was confused.

"I totally just hit you," Kim stated. "I didn't expect the door to open just then. I'm so sorry," she repeated.

"Oh," Jared replied lamely. Then, "Wait a minute, what are you doing here?"

"Er…dinner?" Kim replied hesitantly. "Was that not tonight? Should I go?"

"NO!" Jared shouted instantly. "I mean, no," he repeated in a calmer voice, "Don't go. Yes, that's tonight. I just thought I was supposed to be picking you up."

"That was the plan," Kim shrugged, and Jared's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my god, did you walk here?" Jared demanded, his mind immediately jumping to the worst possible scenario. "I knew I was running late, but I didn't think I was so late you'd resort to walking halfway across the rez. If this happens again, you should just call me and tell me to get my ass moving. Wait—did you call me? Did I miss it? Kim—why are you laughing? This isn't funny!"

But to Jared's mounting dismay, Kim only continued to laugh. And then, to add some confusion to the mix, once she finally stopped laughing, she wrapped her arms around his middle and pulled him into a tight hug. He automatically wrapped his own arms around her in response, though he could freely admit that he had no idea what just happened.

"I'm sorry I laughed," Kim's voice was muffled due to the fact her face was pressed into Jared's chest. She pulled away slightly and tilted her head back so that she was making eye contact with him as she continued, "But I just couldn't help it after that reaction. I thought you were working on remaining calm and not overreacting—especially to the little things?"

"But Kim," Jared protested, "Why would you walk here when you knew I was coming to get you?"

"I didn't walk here," Kim replied simply. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, "And I would have told you that if you'd bothered to pause for breath in the middle of your freak out."

Jared furrowed his brow in confusion. "Then how did you get here?"

"My mom dropped me off here," Kim stated, "It was on the way. It's been a month since Kylie's accident and she's more comfortable on her crutches now so mom decided the two of them should spend some time at my grandma's for a test run to see if Kylie can manage getting around there on her own. If everything works out, mom will probably leave Kylie there when she comes home tomorrow."

"And then we'll be chaperone-free," Jared said with a teasing grin.

"Yes, we will," Kim sighed in relief.

Still smiling, Jared closed the gap between he and Kim, kissing her briefly before pulling away again and finally releasing her from his embrace. Grabbing her hand instead, he pulled her into the house instead. Dinner was about to be served and now that he had Kim by his side, he knew he could get through anything his parents threw at him.

"Your mom is awesome," Kim declared two hours later. After dinner, dessert, and some way-too-extensive conversation (in Jared's opinion, anyway), he'd finally been able to get them away from the dinner table with the excuse that he wanted to show Kim around the house. They were currently in his room, where Kim had just collapsed backwards onto his bed with her declaration. He had to force himself to concentrate on her words rather than dwell on how comfortable she clearly was in his room…in his bed…

"Her food is delicious," Kim continued, "She tells the best embarrassing stories, and she had such adorable pictures of mini-Jared. Of course," She continued contemplatively, "Anything prior to about four months ago could really be considered mini-Jared."

With a brief roll of his eyes, Jared crossed the room and laid down on his back next Kim, turning his head so that he was looking at her.

"You know," He informed her, "I was afraid this would happen."

"What?" Kim questioned, turning her head to meet his gaze.

"You're getting way too much enjoyment out of my pain."

Kim grinned easily, not bothering to deny it. "And I'm sure you imagined worse scenarios for how this night could have turned out."

"Sure," Jared agreed. "I was pretty sure my parents were going to dislike you on basic principle."

Now it was Kim's turn to roll her eyes.

"You told them I was your soul mate, didn't you?"

"I think my mom was just about ready to stage an intervention," Jared confirmed. "And my dad kept making comments about 'playing the field' and how 'youth is wasted on the young,' but I'm pretty sure he and mom were high school sweethearts, so they aren't really the best people to judge. But still, I should have known you'd charm them either way."

Kim merely rolled her eyes, and then her gaze shifted to just behind Jared. He knew the only thing in that direction worth looking at—especially if it caused her to bite her lip like that and appear as hesitant as she was now doing. And with that reaction, he had a feeling he knew what she was going to say next.

"I should probably go soon," Kim stated. "It's getting kind of late."

"Do you have to?" Jared asked shamelessly. "It's not that late."

"Well…" Kim hesitated.

"And didn't you say earlier that your mom won't be home tonight?" Jared saw his opening and pressed. "So she won't even know how late you stayed out."

Now Kim's expression turned contemplative as she looked at him. He was silent for the moment as he stared back, but Jared certainly held no qualms about resorting to begging if necessary. He enjoyed spending as much time as possible with his imprint, thank you very much. And they'd certainly been lacking in time spent solely in each other's company lately, thanks to her sister always being underfoot.

"Do you have patrol tonight?" Kim asked suddenly.

"Nope," Jared shook his head rapidly. "I'm all yours for as long as you want me."

"In that case…" Kim trailed off, suddenly unable to meet Jared's gaze any longer, while her cheeks flushed a light pink. Well this was unexpected. What exactly was going through her head right now?

"Would you like to bring me home?" Kim finally continued, and Jared's heart sank. He told her he was completely free for the night and she still wanted to go home? Clearly was doing this whole boyfriend/imprint/soul mate thing wrong then.

"And then maybe…stay for as long as you want?" Kim offered, throwing his own words back at him.

Jared froze. Did she just say what he thought she said?

"Stay?" Jared repeated. "With you? All night?"

"Only if you want," Kim stressed immediately, her gaze locking with his once more. "You don't—"

But Jared cut her off by flipping to his side and pulling her into his embrace.

"Of course I want," Jared stated firmly. "We can go right now, if you want."

"And just how are you going to explain this to your parents?" Kim questioned, her breath brushing pleasantly against his neck. "Or do you make it a habit of not coming home most nights?"

"Actually, yes," Jared admitted. "I patrol a lot at night. So I'll just tell them I'm going to Sam's, like I usually do. They might not be in on the secret, but they do know I work with Sam and for the council; they haven't bothered questioning it much yet because they're just glad I'm showing more than a passing interest in my heritage after all these years."

"Well then, in that case, take me home, Mr. Cameron."

The next morning, when Jared woke up he was briefly disoriented because he thought he was still dreaming. How many times had he imagined waking up with Kim in his arms? How often had he been forced to acknowledge—if only to himself—that it was all a dream?

But this—Kim burrowing deeper into his embrace as he instinctively tightened his arms around her, the light purple walls he helped her paint just last week, the stack of comic books on her desk that she picked out last night for him to read—this was all definitely real.

He could get used to this.