THANK YOU TO THEHUNGRYRAINBOW, I MAY BE DOING THAT.

TO GUEST, I SEE IT GOING ALL THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW. (THEHUNGRYRAINBOW, THIS WASN'T MEANT TOWARDS YOU 3)


"Bye." Sam called out after an awkward stare off between him and Richard over coffee. He was off to do some 'jogging' with Paul and Jared. Those two hadn't come through yet today and Sam left rather abruptly leading me to believe that there was something more going on. I didn't ask but I was definitely going to be figuring it out.

"Well lets start on the tour then!" I said as I clapped my hands together, Richard jumped at the sound and I pursed my lips. Whoops. He nodded, frowning and got up, I started to clean up the kitchen as he went upstairs.


I'd shown him the cliffs, the beach, the town hall, where he'd be going in a few days soon, and then the center. He'd gotten pretty tired it seemed so we stopped for lunch at the diner. I was talking a little about how the reservation had come to be and how each building was formed.

I'd slowly realized that I was able to smell what seemed like everything, I could smell Richard's cologne, the smell of hairspray on the waitress's hair, fried eggs and bacon in the back. It was all a little strange for me. I decided to ignore it pretty hard, focusing on Richard's fascination with both my own tribe's stories and the origin of La Push.

"So I've got to ask since we never really finished that conversation..." he started and I pinched my eyes closed. You've got to be kidding me, not again. He leaned in closer to lower his voice but the waitress halted it. She cut in with the food, setting it down and wishing us a good meal. I silently praised the food gods and her as I smelled the food. I'd ordered a waffle with fudge and whip cream, it was huge but holy crap I don't feel bad at all.

"Hey loser." I heard Leah before I saw her. She slid into the same booth as me and I scooched over grumpily. Well at least now he couldn't start to do the gossiping thing.

"Holy shit thats a huge waffle, Kai." Leah exclaimed pointing at the food. She sounded better and when I looked at her, she looked a little better too. The dark circles were gone from her eyes, and she looked like she had a little life in her still. She felt really warm and nice next to me. Though that could just be me as I found all sources of warmth as nice and toastie.

"Yeah I know." I replied as I started to cut it. Maybe the whole Sam issue was behind us, it sounded kinda unrealistic because she held grudges pretty hard, but hey. Maybe it was.

"You're gonna get fat eating like that, Sam's gonna have a whale for a girlfriend." she said with some hint of disdain. I paused my sawing, looking down at the food. Yeah, she wasn't over the issue at all. I continued cutting and tried to ignore the little stabs of pain in my heart. At least she's talking to you, right? I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, that was weird. I could smell Leah. She had a little sweat mixed in with some sort of baby powder deodorant and a flowery perfume...I think I just totally impressed myself right there.

"I don't think he'd mind. She's still pretty." Richard murmured from across the table. I froze my cutting and stared down at my food. For fuck sake's Richard, you never know when to stop talking, do you? Leah slowly turned and looked over the table at him.

"Eh, pretty is as pretty does and she ain't lookin' that good. By the way, who are you?" she responded sounding irate. I again tried to ignore the stabs. She was right but she was being a little bit cruel in it. Though I kinda deserved it, I'd ripped out her heart and stomped on it. Okay I'd just sit through this lunch and try not to cry. Good plan, I like that plan. Let's stick to it.

"Who's the pale face, Kai?" she didn't wait for him to respond and asked me. I felt an eye twitch come on. She could pick on me but she'd better leave him out of this.

"He's a guest of the tribe, Leah." I glared at her, putting down the fork and knife. She rolled her eyes at me and I felt the irritation spike as it happened. I took in another deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Well duh, but why is he here?" she carried on. She was still staring at me, looking mildly annoyed and I looked away.

"Hes studying the local legends." I sighed and tried to say sorry across the table to Richard, it wasn't working very well. He just looked shocked for a bit, not saying anything.

"Damnn. Would you look at those?" she sounded impressed. I was about to ask what she meant when I felt her fingertips touch my throat, in specific the scabs she'd given me. I stilled, the fear was sneaking back up on me and I was caught between crying and shoving her away from me. I was trying instead to just keep breathing and not have an anxiety attack right on the spot.

"Guess I won that one." she stated triumphantly. I slowly nodded, yeah she had. Pretty hard, I mean I had cuts on my leg to from her. She was a vicious drunk, apparently. Who knew?

"Yup! You did." I replied warily, not liking that she was touching my throat. I wasn't sure if I trusted her right now, she wasn't happy with me and she was a little harsh in 'punishing' those who she thought needed it. Her phone started buzzing and she pulled away to answer it, I let out a silent sigh of relief.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on my way." she spoke into the phone. I looked over at her curiously as she hit the end call button and stood up.

"Well I've got to go. Have fun ballooning up, Kai." she called out as she turned and started walking away. She zipped out her jacket, gave a final wave and was out the door. I turned to look at him across the table, he had just opened his mouth.

"Don't ask." I said as I held up a hand. He closed his mouth, frowning and looked back down at the eggs and bacon he'd gotten. I shifted uncomfortably, my abdomen felt all crampy. Like I was about to get my period which wasn't that odd as I was about to, next week. It could have just been nerves though, the whole thing with Leah had set me the wrong way from the very beginning.


We'd gone through the store and personally I felt like we'd bought all of their merchandise. Richard, I think, felt the same. He had tried to do the manly thing and not make two trips but he couldn't fully swing the bag out of the back and wound up ripping the bottom open on top of the truck's back latch. My lawn was now covered in various forms of frozen foods.

"Sorry!" he called out to me on the other side. I waved him off, it happens sometimes. The grass was deep and green coloured, it was also wet from the constant mist here. I liked its colour and smell, it was nice and lush. I turned to pick another thing up when I realized it already had a russet hand on it.

"Oh hey." I said awkwardly as I looked up at the owner. Sam was home already apparently. He grinned and pulled me into a hug, smelling my hair.

"Holy crap, Kai. What'd you do?" Paul called out from behind us. I looked back and gave him the finger as he took in the yard, motioning to it. Wait a second...there was more of them. They'd multiplied. I guess this was what all the commotion was about this morning.

"You guys multiplied." I shouted at Paul and he nodded. I looked up at Sam then back at the three boys approaching.

"Embry Call. We've met before." he said awkwardly as he got close enough. He put out his hand for me to shake it and I raised my eyebrows, was he seriously trying to be professional right now? I mean I'm being hugged by a shirtless guy and my yard has become an outdoor freezer.

"Uh...Kai Waters. Indeed we have." I pulled myself away from Sam to shake his hand. He nodded quickly and I stared a little bit at him. I'd met him at the center and then again at the bonfire. It'd only been a few days ago but it felt like forever.

"How do you two know each other?" Sam asked curiously. Embry and I blanched as we looked at each other, he'd been...kinda all over me that evening. It wasn't just Jacob that I was hanging off of for part of it. Things had changed now and obviously he knew I was and had been Sam's imprint.

He couldn't lie to Sam but I could...but he'd see the lie the next time they phased which meant I was only putting it off. I was starting to wonder how he hadn't already seen this in Embry's memories. Embry opened his mouth and I held up a hand, if I told him, he couldn't hurt me.

"Kai?" Sam called my name slowly. He was starting to get a little suspicious. I turned to fully face him and took in a deep breath for what felt like the 50th time today.

"He was uh...with Jake when I was..." I tried to form a way this wouldn't be awful. It wasn't happening. Sam's face darkened as he glared at Embry.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." he said sounding a little mad. Embry held up both his hands as Sam took a step in his direction, reaching for his shirt collar. I stepped between them, putting my hands on Sam's chest. He paused and seemed to have elected to just pull me closer to him and away from Embry, still glaring.

"Kai?" I heard Richard's voice from behind us and smiled at him. He looked so awkward and out of place. I reached up and quickly pecked Sam on the lips, dragging his attention down to me.

"Help clean up now and Paul, Jared, and Embry can do dishes tonight." I said. He grinned down at me and nodded, kissing the top of my head as he let go. We all started cleaning up and everything was inside within a few minutes through the use of wolf strength.


Dinner had gone off mostly without a hitch, they questioned Richard some more about his life and he was slowly opening up. I couldn't say the same for the guys. They were still just as stand-offish as before but it was more out of a fear he'd discover them and tribal law would be broken. So...I let it slide.

"I talked to Leah today." I mentioned casually. We were in bed now, I was curled up into Sam's side. He was still my space heater, and I felt him freeze up. He'd been drawing circles on my arm, happy to have me doing the same to his tummy.

"...did she jump you again?" he asked slowly, not really wanting to know the answer if she had. I shook my head as best as I could, I was laying on his chest.

"Nah. We just...talked." I replied. He continued his circle drawing and I kissed his chest as I hugged him. I was feeling extra cuddly today. The talk with Leah had honestly shaken up my confidence a little and I didn't like it at all.

"Sam? Can I ask you something that's probably really silly?" I asked. I was trying to think of phrasing it in a way that it wouldn't be connected to Leah. He Mhm'd and pulled me a little closer.

"Would you still love me if I were fat?" I questioned quietly. Sam paused his circles again and I felt him turn to look at me.

"Kai, I'd love you even if you suddenly thought the aliens were attacking. Short, tall, round, skinny, crazy, sane, whatever. I still love you." he replied softly. I was about to have an aw moment when I heard the door open to Richard's room. Sam growled lowly and I put my hand over his mouth, trying to listen. He shuffled a little bit and a door opened, but never closed. I looked over at Sam as he moved to stand up.

"Wait!" I hissed. I was trying to grab after him but he was a lot faster than I was.

"He's going through the closet." Sam whispered. I paused, why would he go through the closet? I was about to speak again when I heard our bedroom door open and Sam stepped out. Jesus, that man was fast.