a/n—This chapter is long overdue. For some reason, it just gave me a lot of trouble and it took forever to get everything the way I wanted it. And although I sadly ended up not using a lovely little conversation where Kim basically called Paul an asshole to his face and everyone just rolled with it, I do believe it's finally ready now. Enjoy!
Chapter Forty-One
In the immediate aftermath of Jacob's first phase, Kim did her best to avoid crossing paths with the pack. Or rather, she did her best to avoid crossing paths with Jacob.
"He's not happy about it," Jared informed her more than forty-eight hours after they received the phone call from Emily. "Actually, 'not happy about it' is putting it the nice way. The really nice way. He's been getting friendly with the Swan girl lately, and both his dad and Sam told him he couldn't see her anymore; it's too dangerous. Plus, she's not pack, so she can't be told the truth anyway."
"The Swan girl?" Kim questioned. "The same Swan girl who was dating one of the Cullens?"
Jared nodded with a grimace. "Yeah…we'd just managed to calm Jake down enough to phase back when that bomb got dropped." Then he sighed. "Kim, you know I wouldn't normally tell you what you can and can't do, but this is different. Jake is really volatile right now—he wants to be a part of this even less than Embry did—and I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt. I need you to promise me that you'll stay away from him until he has better control over himself."
Kim couldn't lie to herself. There was a part of her—a small part, easily overruled by the more rational part of her brain—that was slightly curious about the strong reaction Bella Swan seemed to evoke in Jacob Black. Could she possibly be his imprint? It would certainly explain his lack of control over his emotions. But…at the same time, they apparently hadn't had any contact since before Jacob phased—quite simply, there was no opportunity for him to imprint on her. Plus, Kim knew the legends. Imprinting was supposed to be rare. It was probably just a crush; a typical teenage crush. And, while she didn't know Jacob very well, Kim was sure that, with time, he would be able to move on from it.
"I promise," Kim answered him easily.
"Thank you," Jared breathed out a great sigh of relief. He'd been holding onto Kim's hands throughout their entire conversation and now he took advantage of that to tug her closer, lean down, and brush a kiss across her lips. "I have to get back out there with the guys. I'm not sure if I'll make it to school tomorrow, so I'll call or come over as soon as I can."
As it turned out, it was not difficult at all to give Jacob Black a wide berth. Quite simply, it was because Sam and the elders did not yet trust him to go back to school. And Mr. Lahote was on some kind of extended job with the construction company he worked for, so that meant Kim was back to watching Kylie more often than not, leaving her relatively no time to go anywhere near Sam and Emily's house, which is the only other place she figured she would run into Jacob.
And so time passed.
Jared was kept busy with pack life. In addition to teaching Jacob everything there was to know about being a wolf, the pack as a whole had to adjust how they operated as a unit of five, now. By the end of Jacob's first week as a wolf, Jared was back in school, but his free time outside of it was not extensive.
Kim was rather impressed, though, that even with everything the pack had going on Jared always made sure to make time for Kim. Most notably, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, at the end of February they were finally able to get through an entire date without some kind of crisis popping up at the worst possible time. And on that topic, Kim wanted it forever noted for the record that she took that rare opportunity to positively crush Jared at mini golf. (And yes, that also meant she steadfastly refused to accept his incredibly lame excuse that he did poorly because he still didn't know his own strength. Jared completely sucked at mini golf; it was as simple as that.)
There were, however, small windows of time when she wasn't babysitting Kylie, and she wasn't with Jared, and she wasn't at school avoiding Jacob. And the first time that happened, she used the (also) rare opportunity to call Emily. Emily, who, upon greeting Kim when the younger girl called her late one Saturday morning in March, informed her that she had five minutes to get ready because Emily was on her way out the door to pick Kim up.
"We're going shopping," Emily informed Kim as soon as the other girl got in the car.
"Shopping?" Kim repeated slowly. "Really?"
"Well, grocery shopping," Emily amended truthfully. "I'm almost out of food anyway, but it's definitely a godsend that you called when you did—let me tell you, I have been bored out of my mind lately; if I didn't know how strongly he would react, I was just about ready to ask Jared if you died since you haven't been around lately. Anyway, I can't go grocery shopping on my own, so I'm really glad you called because I'm almost out of food and Sam said they would be patrolling all day. Wait—you can go grocery shopping with me, right? You were calling to do something with me, weren't you? I just realized I didn't even ask, let alone let you say more than three words."
"First of all," Kim said, eyebrows raised, "I can definitely tell your only company lately has been the occasional teenage shape shifter—it's always a good rule of thumb to remember to breathe when you're talking. Second, yes, that's why I was calling. And no, I don't mind going grocery shopping with you. But that brings me to my third point, why can't you go grocery shopping by yourself? Like, you're not allowed?"
"What?" Emily glanced away from the road for the briefest moment to fix Kim with a confused look. "Oh! No, I mean like it's physically impossible for me to do all of that shopping on my own. You know how those boys eat. Do you really think the week's grocery shopping can be contained in one cart?"
"Ah, you make an excellent point," Kim conceded with an amused grin and a small laugh. "So," She continued, glancing out the car window to see that they'd already left La Push behind, "We're going to Forks, then?"
"Ah, no," Emily said shortly. "We're actually going to Port Angeles. I like to alternate where I do my shopping because, well, I've recently started making weekly trips, now that we're up to five wolves, and the amount of food I tend to buy is probably enough to last normal people for at least a month. I love taking care of the boys, but I also love avoiding too many glares from the cashier when I check out."
"I hope those boys thank you every single time you feed them, Emily," Kim said seriously, "Because if not, they definitely don't deserve you."
"Don't worry," Emily grinned slyly, "I'm definitely working on their manners."
Five hours later, Kim fully recognized that she underestimated just how serious Emily was when she said she was not able to do all of the shopping by herself.
"Forget feeding normal people for a month," a wide-eyed Kim said as Emily forced the back door of her car shut on the last of the groceries currently piled high in the back seat. "I'm pretty sure we just bought enough food to feed a small country."
"So, same time next Saturday?" Emily asked brightly.
"You're insane," Kim replied promptly. "But I'm also more than slightly in awe of you now."
After the drive back to La Push, the pair then undertook the monumental task of unloading and putting away all of the food—"Of course," Emily commented in the middle of this, "I'm sure nearly a quarter of this will be gone by tomorrow night."—but by the time the late afternoon was shifting into early evening, they were both sitting at the kitchen table, with a freshly brewed cup of tea and a muffin apiece (from the fresh batch Emily put in almost as soon as they got home from shopping, in anticipation of the pack's imminent return) before them.
"So," Kim began as Emily took a sip of her tea, "Since we've avoided any mention of it all day so far, and since I've had basically no contact with the pack lately, how do you think Jacob is doing?"
"Is Jared still convinced Jake has no control?" Emily questioned, replacing her teacup on the table slowly.
"That's what he keeps telling me," Kim confirmed. "But I'm having a really hard time reconciling the goofball I remember from school with the picture Jared keeps painting of someone with worse anger management problems than Paul."
Emily let out an inelegant snort of laughter. "That's because Jared tends to go overboard where you're concerned. Personally, I don't think Jake would have any kind of problem with or around you—unless, of course, you suddenly become best friends with the Swan girl while he's still forbidden from talking to her."
"That's incredibly doubtful," Kim replied. "I barely have enough time right now for the few friends I already have."
"Jared will back down eventually," Emily said firmly. "From what Sam has been saying lately, Jake is actually doing really well with everything. Well…mostly everything…" Emily trailed off, and Kim was intrigued by the frown that creased the other woman's forehead. "Sam…he has a lot on his shoulders as the Alpha; it's a big responsibility."
"He's doing a pretty good job, if you ask me," Kim offered. And he really was, from what she'd seen. He kept the tribe safe and the pack in line. And she knew Jared had nothing but praise for him most of the time ('most of the time' meaning any time Sam wasn't scheduling Jared to run patrol at a time that would give him less time to spend with Kim…but she begrudgingly supposed that fell under the category of 'keeping the tribe safe'—she'd allow the minor flaw, anyway).
"He talks to me a lot about things to do with the pack," Emily continued. Her frown lifted slightly into a small smile, "And I suppose that's really one of the main purposes of an imprint—that we can share this with each other. But anyway, Sam and I have actually talked quite a bit about Jake. Did you know that Jake is actually the rightful Alpha of the pack?"
"No," Kim admitted honestly with a shake of her head, "Jared's never mentioned it."
"That makes sense," Emily stated, "It wasn't that big of a deal until Jake actually phased. Being Alpha is Jake's birthright, and Sam has always known that; he was completely ready to step aside when Jake finally phased. But Jake refused. He didn't want it. He still doesn't. And that's where I think Jake is struggling right now to fit into pack life. He's handling the physical transition really well—he was literally born for this—but he doesn't want it."
"Do you think he'll ever change his mind?"
Emily shrugged. "Enough to embrace his role as a Protector of La Push? Definitely. Enough to accept and embrace his birthright as Alpha? Maybe…maybe not."
"But you definitely think it's safe enough for me to be around the pack, right?" Kim pressed. "Because I love that Jared cares. But I don't love the idea of him over-reacting and becoming way overprotective, especially when it concerns one of his pack brothers."
"I'll make Sam knock some sense into him," Emily offered with a grin. "He'll have a difficult time coming up with an argument when the Alpha doesn't have a problem with his imprint spending time around Jake, who, I should add, I've never felt in danger around."
"Good," Kim said decisively. "And I vote that there's no time like the present. I think I'll be staying for dinner tonight."
"Wonderful," Emily replied, getting to her feet once more. A quick glance at the clock over the stove told Kim it was probably about time to start making a large enough dinner to feed a pack of rabid wolves—ahem, teenage boys. "You haven't been around nearly as much as I'd like, lately, and even after our delightful shopping trip this afternoon—"
"I'm not sure we define 'delightful' the same way," Kim interjected, but Emily ignored her.
"I definitely haven't gotten my full Kim fix for the day," She continued over Kim. "Plus, those boys outnumber me and I could always use another girl around here—particularly one who might actually take the time to appreciate the food I make, rather than inhale it."
It was only a few minutes later that the sound of voices suddenly came from the backyard.
Emily looked up from the ground beef she was cooking over the stove—"Tonight is taco night!" She'd declared after a quick perusal of the day's haul, "Mostly because it's easy, and I'm kind of exhausted."—and smiled in the general direction of the backyard.
"That'll be the boys," She said. "I was wondering how much longer they were going to be out."
"I'd rather not think about how they managed to stay away from your kitchen all day," Kim agreed.
Sure enough, less than a minute later, the door was being pulled open and the wolves descended. Quite literally.
"Please tell me I'm allowed to eat whatever that amazing smell is," Paul declared, collapsing into one of the kitchen chairs. "I'm starving."
"I'm no expert," Kim began, giving him a look of concern, "But it seems to me that eating a scent might be rather difficult and not at all effective."
"I'm too hungry to deal with your sass, Kimberly," Paul waved his hand flippantly at her. "Go bother your boy toy."
"Kim?" Jared asked brightly, only just now entering the kitchen, with Sam only a few steps behind him. "Kim!" Before she could even blink, let alone offer a greeting, Jared was across the room and had his arms wrapped around her, before lifting her off her feet and spinning in a small circle. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Sam greeting Emily in a similar, if slightly more intimate, manner.
"Well I missed you, too," Kim told him once she was back on her feet. Standing on her toes, she reached up to brush her lips across Jared's and would have been quite happy to let it turn into something much deeper, but Paul was clearly not about to be ignored.
"C'mon guys!" He whined (though Kim was sure he'd deny that's what he was doing). "I could be eating right now. Not all of us have imprints to distract us from dying of hunger."
With a roll of her eyes, Kim pulled away from Jared to glance over his shoulder. "Shut up, Paul."
Paul made a face at her. "Only so you don't do that again. You sounded creepily like Sam just then, and another Sam is not what I need right now."
"Shut up, Paul," came Sam's instant response.
"Is no one else hearing this?" Paul demanded.
Kim merely rolled her eyes at him before latching onto Jared's hand and pulling him over to the kitchen table to sit next to her. (Sidenote: Kim didn't feel bad at all about basically abandoning her remaining Emily-assigned meal prep duties, because she was about one hundred and ten percent sure Sam would be pressed into service very shortly if he kept hovering like he currently was.)
"How was patrol today?" She asked the room at large.
"We totally took down a leech today!" Paul exclaimed straight away.
"Dude, did you have to lead with that?" Jared bemoaned.
"Dude," Paul shot back, "Literally nothing else interesting happened on that ridiculously long, ten-hour patrol. Would it have helped if I mentioned that he had some pretty sick dreads, even if he did smell disgusting and was, you know, a bloodsucker that we totally decimated?"
"Was anyone hurt?" Emily asked, speaking up for the first time since being distracted by Sam's arrival. "Speaking of hurt, actually, where are Embry and Jake?" She rounded on Sam now, "You didn't make them stay out on patrol still after being out all day, did you?"
"No one was hurt," Sam stated.
"Yeah, that Swan chick got lucky," Paul agreed and Kim's eyes widened while Emily gasped in alarm.
"Bella Swan was there?" She demanded.
"Seriously dude," Jared told Paul, "You need to work on your tact." Then he shifted slightly so that he could address both Emily and Kim. "She was out in the woods; Jake thinks she might have been out for a hike. We were tracking the leech's scent and when we finally found it, it was stalking her. Honestly, if we hadn't gotten there when we did, it probably would have killed her. She's fine, though."
"Jake took it hard, though," Sam continued for Jared, "That's why he's not here right now. He thinks this was a sign that he should be allowed to tell her about the pack, but I told him no. Again."
"Yeah," Paul cut in now, "And he pitched another hissy fit and now he's too pissed off to phase back. He's lucky Embry likes him enough to stay out there with him. Anyway, are you making tacos, Emily? Because it smells like tacos. And have I mentioned, yet, how absolutely starved I am right now?"
Her curiosity apparently satisfied through the brief explanation, Emily allowed the conversation to shift as she had Sam (Kim totally saw that one coming) begin bringing everything they would need for the meal over to the table. It wasn't until much later, when Jared was walking Kim back to her house for the night, that she finally voiced her concern.
"Sam wasn't lying to make Emily feel better earlier, was he?" She questioned. "No one got hurt earlier, when you were taking down the vampire, right? You didn't get hurt?"
"Not even a scratch," Jared affirmed. He grinned at her then, releasing the grip he had on her hand only to throw his arm across her shoulders and tug her closer to him. "You can't get rid of me that easily."
"Damn, you saw through my plan: dump my boyfriend by vampire assassination," Kim rolled her eyes.
"Seriously though," Jared told her, giving her a comforting squeeze (oh, alright, and maybe she'd admit that it made her melt into his side just a little bit more) with the arm still around her. "We were literally made for this and it was five on one; it never stood a chance."
"I'm still going to worry, though, next time you go out," Kim informed him.
"If it'll make you feel better, I'll totally let you give me a full body inspection to make sure nothing's wrong," Jared waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
"Jerk," She shoved him away with a laugh.
"You still love me, though."
"Of course I do."