Disclaimer: This is Stephenie Meyers world I only make the storyline and the occasional new character:D
Authors Note: Thanks for reviewing the first chapter! Please review this one too!! Just in response to the message I received about my my-space page (I'm sorry accidentally deleted the message forgot you're name!), I fixed my profile and the link that I thought was there is now there!! Alright then thanks for reading and please review good or bad:D
Chapter Two
Once I was outside I started running and could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, which made me even more disgusted. I could hear Sam yelling after me to slow down and wait up for him, but before he could catch up with me I had changed, not caring who saw me. Sam quickly changed behind me and I could not escape him in my head, "Quill please wait up we need to talk". "NO" I yelled at him all I needed to do was to get away, and ignore this; it wasn't happening it couldn't be happening.
"Quill please listen to me!!!" Sam pleaded with me but I couldn't bring myself to face him. "Please Sam I can't…I just need to get away.. I don't want to even think about it" before I could even develop this thought any further Sam had come at me out of nowhere and tackled me to the ground. I struggled for a minute or two before Sam ordered me to stop. "Quill stop this now!". It was a direct order I had to stop I couldn't ignore it Sam was the leader of the pack. "Now go change! And we'll talk" Sam finished with yet another order.
I went deeper into the forest that surrounded us and changed back into Quill the human, and put on the spare shorts that I had tied around my ankle. I pinched the bridge of my nose, and struggled to control my breathing. "Quill?" Sam called out to me and my dry sob directed him to exactly where I was. Before I could do anything further I fell back against a tree sliding down to the ground feeling the air rush out of me, I stared at the ground trying to comprehend what had just happened but couldn't understand it.
As Sam walked into the patch of trees that I was sitting in, I looked up and saw that he looked truly concerned. I had expected him to be furious at my behaviour, after all Claire was as good as his niece too and here I was completely taken in by her, snatching her practically from Emily's arms.
"Quill…" Sam began hesitantly, "its going to be alright" . I shook my head and felt myself panic and started rambling at Sam. "How….how…. HOW IS THIS GOING TO BE OKAY SAM???" I couldn't stop myself from roaring now "SHES TWO AND I….WANTED TO TAKE HER AWAY FROM EVERYONE IN THERE AND KEEP HER TO MYSELF….. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!" I trailed off, I had an idea of what was happening but I was hoping that I was wrong, praying , wishing against everything that I was wrong. But in the next moment Sam only confirmed my worst fear.
"Quill….its not the end of the world alright?…..sure its going to be hard especially considering how young she is and how long that you're going to have to wait…but it's neither of yours fault for imprinting on one another…it was meant to happen.." Sam finished simply. I looked up again and saw that Sam was looking at me with a sympathetic expression on his face.
I struggled to get my head around the thought…..I had just imprinted on a two year old. How was that possible, it couldn't be? Could it?. Yet again Sam answered my unspoken question "There are legends about this you know Quill?….there really is nothing wrong with what has happened". Sam gave me a small sad smile " Its just going to mean a lot of patience on your part I'm afraid…" Sam looked at me almost willing me to answer, or at least to show some recognition for what was happening. I looked up at Sam and choked out what I wanted to say " I can't believe this…..she…. she's only two…. I didn't think that I could do that I mean two…" I trailed off unable to say anything more at the time. Sam looked around him and crouched down in order to be on the same eye level as me.
Sam sighed and continued "Quill I know this is going to be difficult but…..it will be fine despite what your thinking you know that don't you?" Sam looked at my face beseechingly. I thought about what he said and couldn't at that moment see any light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. "Sam…..how?" I finally managed to choke out not able to look him in the face. I felt Sam shift slightly slower in my direction, and looked cautiously out of the corner of my eye to see that he was now sitting beside me. "Quill it's true Claire is two….but she will get older and then you will be there ..it's not as though your getting any older now is it?" I shook my head at this, almost as a refusal, as though I was still unwilling to accept what he was saying to me.
Then I heard Sam draw in a deep breath and heard a small smile in his voice as he spoke, "Really I was just thinking…this has done you a favour Quill….". Now I did look at him completely surprised by this sudden change of direction in the conversation , my expression must have said as much as Sam quickly finished what he was saying. "Look at it this way Quill…what if for arguments sake you met someone and you fell for them and got married?…forgetting about today that is…and you had children and then….then Claire gets older and you meet her at my place and then you imprint….wife children gone out the window! ..you don't want that do you?…..hurt the people you love.." Sam broke off and I heard his voice break with his final words.
I knew that he was thinking about Leah and felt guilty for knowing what had happened between them, one reason not to enjoy the close connection that the pack shared. But what he said had struck a note with me and made me think about the benefits of what had just happened, maybe Sam was right but that would mean that I would have to wait for almost 16 years before I could finally be with Claire. The thought of it made me cringe, 16 years was a lifetime to me….it was my entire life so far twice over. But I knew that I would wait, I knew then that any other girl I had any romantic interest in before wouldn't have any chance now no one was as important to me as Claire…my Claire. I sighed at the thought of the words my Claire and blushed, remember Quill she's two …. But the thing was I didn't feel that way about her now, I felt more like I had to protect her to keep her happy and fulfil every wish she had. I looked up at Sam and nodded, everything that Sam had been saying had made sense. Sam seemed to think from my expression that I was suitably calm now and seemed to relax slightly.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked hesitantly. It was the first time that he had actually asked me how I was feeling as opposed to telling me how I should be feeling and it calmed me further. "I'm fine….I'm amazed at this but I'm fine…..you're right I can see that…it doesn't make it much easier …..but it does help.." I trailed off and smiled sheepishly at Sam. Sam seemed amazingly relieved by my sudden change of attitude and smiled broadly back at me. " I'm glad…..this is going to be interesting…" Sam smiled, I looked up at him slightly annoyed that he seemed to be now enjoying himself on my behalf, Sam noticed and quickly explained. "Quill don't get me wrong I fully sympathise with you about how young she is and for having to wait, but what I meant was that it's unusual for so many in a pack to imprint….usually it's very rare…". I shrugged not really finding this very interesting, whilst Sam looked on thoughtfully.
I saw Sam frown slightly then, "Quill you do realise that you're going to have to wait for quite a long time before she is in any way ready for this don't you?" Sam said somewhat cautiously. I stared up at him and suddenly felt quite angry at him for what I assumed was some sort of accusation for me hurting Claire, "I WOULD NEVER HURT HER NEVER " I shouted angrily at him, feeling myself shake uncontrollably at the thought. Sam stood up looking cautiously at me again. I concentrated on breathing and calmed myself down; changing would not help the situation at all. "That's not what I meant….you know that I just meant that she would be too young to understand fully what this means for quite some time to come…" Sam shrugged unsure of whether or not it would set me off again. I thought about this and sighed before speaking to him calmly this time, "Sam….it's not like you and Emily at all…." I began uncertain of how to explain what I was feeling, "Its like she is the centre of my world and I move around her ….. I do whatever she wants …if she wants me to play with her I'll play, if she's hurt I'll comfort her …. now she seems to want a father figure and that's what I feel like being to her……if that makes sense, I don't want her in that way at all how could I?" I finished unsure if what I had said made sense to Sam let alone to me.
Sam smiled looking thoughtful again, "I'm glad about that, I was hoping it was how you were feeling…all I can say is that Claire is one lucky kid, you will be one of the best father figures around to her, you'll know exactly how to deal with her… be her friend when she needs one…and later more than her friend…" Sam seemed rather awkward at the final note, but not as awkward as I felt. It was strange to think of Claire and I together especially when every time I thought of her all I could see was her two year old small self. But what Sam was saying made sense to me, Claire and I would progress throughout her life through all the different stages, that's what I wanted and all I could hope for. I wanted it so much that it almost hurt me to think about it.
"So.." Sam said suddenly breaking through my reverie, "We had better get back from the sounds of things when we left Claire was going to tear the house down. Sam laughed slightly at this and smiled at me, if it wasn't for the gravity of the situation it would have been oddly funny, especially I thought if it were happening to someone else. I nodded reluctantly in agreement and slowly stood up, to follow Sam.