Chapter title taken from the song "Anger As Beauty" by Hawksley Workman

Quil woke to the feeling of someone jabbing the toe of their shoe into his ribs. He groaned and opened his eyes, squinting against the light. He found himself looking up into Haley's un-amused face.

"You need to move. I have to open the door." She said coldly.

Quil struggled to his feet. "Sorry," he croaked.

Haley eyed him for a moment. She then took her keys and opened the back door of Ruby's. She held the door open and motioned him inside.

"You want something? Coffee?" Haley asked as she put her coat and purse down on the bar.

"Juice would be good thanks."

As Haley went behind the bar to pour the juice, Quil sat at one of the tables and glanced at the clock on the wall. "What are you doing here so early?" He asked.

Haley came over with two glasses of Orange Juice. She set one of the glasses in front of Quil and took the other, sitting across from him. "I'm doing inventory." She told him.

They sat in silence for a moment. Then Haley said, "So you look like you've been on a real bender."

"It was more of a complete mental breakdown," Quil informed her. He shrugged and took a sip of juice. "It was okay. Everybody should have one."

Haley didn't answer him. She sipped her juice and sighed.

"Look," Quil started. "I'm really sorry about last night. I don't know what in the hell I was thinking. I said horrible things. Untrue things. And you were right you deserve better than that."

Haley nodded. "I'm glad you agree." She sighed. "I'm sorry too. I mean I could have handled the whole situation a lot better. You asked me not to judge you and I did. I'm sorry for not being a very good friend."

Quil shrugged again. "It's okay. It's a crazy situation. I know how it sounds."

Haley made a face. "Well honestly….not good."

"I realize that," he said. He looked down and absently picked at the edge of the table.

Haley eyed him. "So what the hell did you do last night?"

"Jumped off the peak."

Haley's eyes widened. "You did what now?"

"Jumped off the peak. It was actually very enlightening."

"You know, when you told me you went cliff diving I always thought it was off, you know….the low ones. You jumped off the very top?"

Quil nodded.

"You know you're insane right?"

"I actually feel more sane now than I did yesterday."

Haley sighed. "Look Quil, about yesterday. You're a good guy. I know that for a fact. I should have been more understanding. I'm willing to be that now. That is if you still want to talk about it."

Quil shook his head. "It's……complicated. I can't tell you everything. I can't explain the whole thing. Not because I don't want to but because I'm not allowed."

Haley made a face. "Not allowed?"

"No. I'm sort of bound. By an order from my….tribe. I can't talk about it. The only thing I really can tell you is that I'm not going around looking at little girls or anything. In fact I don't even see other girls. I only see Claire."

"Look, Quil. I don't know if I'll ever fully understand your relationship with this girl. I mean you'd come in here, I'd ask about your day, and the first thing you would say would be 'well I hung out with Claire'. I'd ask what you guys did and you'd never really answer. 'We just hung out.' That's all I'd ever get out of you. I always thought it was sweet because…..I mean Quil you should see how you look when you talk about her. My God, your…..your whole face lights up and you get this stupid goofy grin. I mean Jesus, your fucking eyes even sparkle. I don't think you even realize it."

Quil leaned back and closed his eyes. "She's my soul mate. I mean she is my whole world. My whole world. I think of nothing but her pretty much every minute of every day. Even when you and I were together…..and I beg you to not take this personally, but for me, we were just physical. I never had you know….feelings like that for you."

Haley gave him a small smile. "I knew that back then. I mean, I used to imagine that you would change your mind but…you never did."

"It wasn't because of you, I don't want you to think that. It was because of Claire. She was four when I met you and six when we stopped hooking up and that whole time I felt guilty. I mean in my mind I was betraying her, even though, back then at least, I thought of her as a little sister. But now everything has changed. Haley, I've always loved Claire, from the minute I saw her, but now…now I'm in love with her." Quil gave Haley a small smile. "But the thing I can't get out of my mind is how wrong it is for me to feel this way about her. I sort of made a deal with myself and her parents that I wouldn't have a relationship with Claire until she was sixteen. Claire has other ideas though. She wants us to have a relationship now. And the worst part of it is that I want that too. But she's young."

Haley frowned. "Her parents know about your relationship?"

Quil nodded. He sat forward and picked absently at his fingernails as he spoke. "It's part of the thing I can't talk about. But yes, they knew when I met Claire that we were meant to be together. They've always been really supportive of my relationship with Claire. I mean there are ground rules they made twelve years ago, one of which was that Claire and I couldn't have a romantic relationship until she was sixteen. And I was totally fine with that. But lately…….it's been hard to stick to the rules. Then they relented and said we could start dating so long as it was supervised and we didn't get physical."

Quil took a deep breath. "But it has gotten physical. The thing is….recently when it comes to Claire, I built up this whole like, wall, you know? This wall to hide all the bad things I was thinking and feeling. Things I knew I shouldn't be thinking and feeling for her. But then Claire takes this fucking sledgehammer and knocks the whole damn thing down. And it scares the hell out of me. It scares me to feel this much. I feel like, when I'm with her….I have no control. Over anything. And I don't just mean, you know, like sex stuff. I mean everything. I feel so much for her, not only love, you know? I ache in my chest for her. I actually physically ache. It's like I have no room inside of me for all this emotion. I kept trying to push it down and push it down and then last night I couldn't push it down anymore and it just bubbled up and fucking exploded like a damn geyser all over her."

Quil leaned back and sighed. "I really fucked things up. I pushed her away because of my own fears. I don't think I can fix this. I told her I didn't want to see her anymore. But it's not true. God, it's not even remotely true. I flipped out and hurt her really badly. I am a horrible person."

Haley shook her head vehemently. "You are not a horrible person. Quil I know I freaked out about this yesterday, and I still can't say that I totally…..agree with the situation. I mean you're twenty-eight and she's fourteen. But my God if she feels half of what you feel for her? Well something like that is rare. It's worth fighting for."

"I can't," Quil took a shuddering breath. "Sharon and Sam will never agree. It doesn't even matter what I want. I'm not going to be allowed to have it."

"Who is Sharon? And why does Sam have anything to do with your relationship?"

"Sharon is Claire's mom. I mean she's been pretty understanding about this whole thing…she knows that Claire is the one who's been pushing for more, but Sam…Claire is Sam's niece and for twelve years now he's been dictating to me how I need to act with her. There is no way that either of them will even consider letting us have a real relationship now. I mean Sam was pissed that we were just dating. No…" Quil shook his head sadly. "We can't be together. Not now, and after all this…maybe not ever."

Haley gave him a sympathetic look. "You can always talk to them. I mean what else have you got to lose?"

Quil shrugged. "I don't know, my dignity, my pride….possibly my manhood….literally. Sam would probably castrate me for even bringing it up." He shook his head again. "No, it's not going to happen. And they would be right because it shouldn't happen. I just have to accept that." Quil sighed and stood up. "Thanks for listening. I really needed someone to talk to, you know?"

Haley nodded. "Anytime. I promise to always be open minded, no matter what. Well unless you kill someone. Then I might have to reconsider. Okay?"

"Okay." Quil gave her a half hearted smile. "I better go. And I really am sorry about yesterday."

Haley stood up and pulled Quil into a hug. "It's fine, Quil. I really hope everything works out for you."

Quil nodded but didn't say anything. The thought that he might have to go the rest of his life without Claire was sinking in and he feared if he spoke, it would cause what little sanity he had gained to slip away again. He just hugged Haley back and tried desperately to hold on.

Quil walked slowly home, his mind a blur. The more he walked the more he thought about a life without Claire. He couldn't even begin to comprehend how hard that would be. He tried to grab hold of something, anything in his head that might begin to rid him of this pain, but even when something would jump forward, he couldn't grip it long enough before it dissolved back into the blur. As he approached his house, praying Seth and Embry weren't home - God he couldn't deal with Frick and Frak today- he was jolted when he saw not only Seth and Embry's cars there, but Jacob's as well, the black Lexus parked at a haphazard angle.

He thought he vaguely remembered Seth mentioning Jake last night, though now he couldn't pull out the reason why. Suddenly it hit him. Jacob had come to see him. Quil closed his eyes. He did not need this now. He just needed to be alone. He needed to lay down and be depressed. He couldn't lay down and be depressed with three annoying wolves hanging over his shoulders.

As quietly as possible, Quil snuck around the back of the house and climbed in through his bedroom window. Once in the room he held his breath for a moment, waiting to see if any of them had heard him come in. When he was satisfied that they hadn't, he climbed into his bed, pulling the covers over his head. He could hear Seth, Embry and Jacob in the living room, talking about him. About how he had lost it, how they didn't know what to do, about where he might be. He groaned softly and buried his head under his pillow, trying to drown them out. All he wanted right now was to stay in bed until he either died of heartbreak or starvation. Probably starvation first, he figured. Heartbreak was too cruel to kill him quickly. It would only fester inside of him like an infected sore, making him just miserable enough to want to die, but not being kind enough to kill him outright. He was ready to let the depression completely take over when suddenly his bedroom door flew open, the door frame splintering with a loud crack.

Quil sat up and looked at the ruined door frame and then into the dark, worried eyes of Jacob Black.

"That's the second time you've murdered my door," he muttered.

"Where the hell have you been?" Jacob's voice was tight with anger.

"Out."

"Oh out, oh well okay then. That makes everything okay. Great, you were out." Jacob glared at him.

"Well, actually I think I was supposed to get beer but…..I forgot," Quil told him.

"Get up. We're going for a ride."

"No….no rides today. Today I'm wallowing. Can you come back later?" Quil pulled his covers back over his head.

"Quil, I'm serious. Get up."

"No," Quil replied stubbornly.

Jacob nodded. "It's going to be like that is it? Well you leave me no choice then." Jacob stomped over to Quil and yanked his covers off the bed.

"Dude, what the hell?" Quil yelled. "I'm trying to be depressed here and I don't need you getting in my face!"

Jacob grabbed Quil's arm and yanked him out of the bed. "I'm not asking you Quil."

"Oh what so now you're going to start throwing around orders? I thought you didn't like to do that Alpha Man."

Jacob didn't respond. He dragged Quil out of the bedroom and down the hallway, pushing him into the living room.

Quil looked around the room, at Nessie who stood looking out the window, at Seth and Embry who were seated on the couch, worry plastered on their faces.

"What?" He snapped at them. "Is this an intervention or something?"

"We're just concerned, that's all," Seth said quietly.

Quil sighed and looked down. "I'm fine," he muttered.

"Quil you aren't fine!" Embry shouted. "You did not see yourself yesterday! Stop being an ass and let us help you!"

"I don't want your help," Quil shot back. "I did what I did and it's done. I can't take it back. I hurt Claire, I betrayed everyone's trust and I just want to be left alone with my misery. Is that so much to ask?"

"Quil," Jacob's voice was soft now. "Just come with me, okay?"

Quil gave a reluctant sigh. "If I come with you now, will you guys promise to leave me alone? I really just want to be alone."

"Let's go," Jacob said.

He pulled Quil out the door to his car and stuffed him into the backseat. Nessie followed behind Jacob, climbing in the front with her husband. She looked over her shoulder into the back. "Hello Quil," She said serenely.

Quil rolled his eyes. "Hey," he muttered. It drove him crazy that Nessie was always so quiet and composed. Maybe he was just used to Claire and her theatrics, but he honestly didn't know how Jacob could stand being with someone who barely spoke two full sentences a day. The thought of Claire caused a new wave of despair to wash over him and he had to clench his fists into tight balls and bite his lip to keep from blubbering like a baby.

Jacob started the car and pulled out of driveway. No one spoke as he drove, although Quil did catch Jacob watching him in the review mirror several times, eyeing Quil as if waiting for him to flip out. Finally unable to stand it anymore, Quil asked. "Where the hell are we going?"

Jacob didn't answer. Nessie smiled back at Quil and then reached over and touched Jacob's cheek. Jacob leaned his head into her palm, a smile on his face.

"Should you be doing that while you drive?" Quil asked snottily. "I mean it's not good road etiquette to be watching home movies while operating a vehicle."

Jacob frowned in the rearview mirror at Quil.

Quil sneered back at him.

Nessie took her hand from Jacob's face and smiled back at Quil again.

Quil looked away, annoyed. "So? You never answered me, where are we going?"

"The park," Jacob replied.

Quil frowned. "You dragged me out of bed to take me to the park? We live in a God damn park why are you taking me to a different one? What are we going sightseeing or something? I mean come on man, this is ludicrous. Just take me home."

Jacob didn't respond.

Quil felt his anger building up. He leaned forward and said. "I could just jump out you know. I don't have to stay in here. It's not like it will hurt me if I jump."

"So jump," Jacob said, his voice exacerbated.

Quil flopped back into his seat. "I don't feel like walking back," he muttered.

Jacob snorted. "It doesn't matter, we're here anyway." He pulled into a small lot and parked.

Quil looked out his window. "We live in the backyard of Olympic National Park and you bring me to Tillicum?" He said disgustedly.

"Nessie likes it here. Charlie used to bring her here when she was little."

Quil made a face. "Whatever," he muttered.

Nessie smiled at Quil and went to touch his face. Quil squirmed out of her way and held up both his hands in a karate chop gesture. "No no I am not strolling down memory lane with you today," he growled.

"Get out of the car," Jacob gave Quil a dirty look.

Keeping a wary eye on Nessie, Quil pulled open his door and stepped out of the car.

"Let's go for a walk," Jacob said.

Quil groaned. "Why do I-"

Jacob held up a hand. "Just shut up and walk."

They walked in silence for some time, making nearly five full circuits of the park before Jacob finally led Quil over to a picnic area and sat down. Quil flopped down next to Jacob, stretching his legs out in front of him and crossing his arms over his chest.

Jacob studied Quil for a moment then said. "You've got to snap out of it."

"Snap out of it? I ruined my life, I probably ruined Claire's life, I said horrible things to two people I really care about, Sam knows I did something really, really bad and uhh oh yeah Claire hates me. I think I've earned the right for a little self pity."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "You know what? You are an ass. I mean the last few months you've been driving yourself crazy back and forth with the 'oh I'm so horrible' crap. Shut up already."

Quil looked at Jacob, shocked. "What did you say?"

"I said shut up," Jacob replied. "I mean really. You are making such a big deal out of this. It does not have to be this big of a deal."

"Claire said the same thing yesterday," Quil said softly. "After we….you know, she said it wasn't a big deal. And I yelled at her." Quil suddenly buried his face in his hands. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I'm supposed to be there for her. I've done nothing but push her away. And why? Because I care what everyone else will think? Because Sam and Sharon have both threatened to kick my ass?"

"I talked to Sam," Jacob told him.

Quil dropped his hands and looked up. "You did?" He asked weakly. "What did he say? Is he going to kill me?"

Jacob shook his head. "No, he's not going to kill you. In fact he's going to back off. He and Sharon had a long talk last night after you stopped by Claire's house."

Quil gave Jacob a worried look. "What happened? Do they all hate me?"

"Nobody hates you man! I mean would you listen to yourself? Things got out of control. It happens. Claire told Sharon and Sam it was her fault. That she started it, that you asked her to stop. That you've been telling her to stop, but she wouldn't listen."

Quil's entire chest suddenly felt as though a huge rubber band had been wrapped around it several times, squeezing the breath out of him. He took a shuddering gasp and said, "Why would she do that?"

"Because she loves you!"

Quil shook his head. "She shouldn't. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve her."

"Quil. I want you to answer the question I'm about to ask you. I want you to say the first thing that comes to your mind. Don't think just answer, okay?"

Quil nodded.

"What do you want more than anything in this world?"

"For Claire to be happy," Quil responded immediately.

Jacob smiled. "See? You put her before anything else. Quil, she's lucky to have you. You just need to see that. You need to stop beating yourself up. You need to get past this. And you have to go talk to Claire."

"Jake, you weren't there yesterday. I….was so horrible to her. I mean you should have seen her face. It was like I took her heart, ripped it out of her chest, threw it on the ground and then just like did the fucking riverdance all over it. I don't think she'll ever forgive me, let alone talk to me."

"I never said this was going to be easy, and it probably won't be. But you have to try. If you don't, man, you are going to regret it for the rest of your life."

"God I'm an idiot. I've been such a selfish jerk."

"Jerk, yes. Selfish, no. Quil everything you've ever done has been with Claire's best interest in mind. You drive yourself crazy over being with her because you want to protect her. You've spent so much time making sure that Claire was happy that I sometimes think you forget that part of her happiness depends on you being happy. Are you happy right now?"

"Do I look happy?" Quil muttered.

Jacob made a face. "No, you don't look happy. You look miserable and quite frankly a little disgusting. Did you sleep in a gutter?"

Quil gave him a weak laugh. "Practically. I slept outside the back door of Ruby's."

Jacob laughed. He then looked up and motioned for Renesmee to join them.

Quil made a face. "Please, please, Jake you know I respect your wife and all but I really don't want her touching me."

Jacob lightly smacked Quil's arm. "She just wants to show you why you need to make this right."

"I know why I need to make it right I don't need Sylvia Brown's help," Quil muttered.

"Okay, that's just insulting. Sylvia Brown was a psychic," Nessie told Quil as she sat on the bench next to him. "I am going to show you accurate memories. It is a completely different thing."

"Sorry," Quil said.

"Just relax," Nessie said. She reached forward and cupped Quil's face in her small hands.

Immediately Quil was overwhelmed. Memories rushed at him as though his mind was going in fast forward. Every memory Nessie had of him and Claire swept across his eyes. The most overwhelming thing of all was the amount of love he felt in every memory. Not romantic love, but just pure unadulterated love. The kind of love that was so rare you felt lucky to have it. It was so much to take in that Quil began gasping for breath. He jerked away from Nessie's hands and sat breathing heavily.

"She loves you and you her," Nessie said quietly. "That is what's important."

Quil stood up quickly. "Take me home, I need to see her. Please."

Jacob stood up too. He slung an arm around Quil's shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze. "All right. Let's go home."

Quil, Jacob and Nessie drove back to La Push in silence. Quil sat in the back, his head leaning against his window. His mind kept turning the memories Nessie had shown him over and over. He had no idea what he was going to say to Claire. He didn't even know if she would listen. But he was going to try. He had to try. Jacob had been right. He would regret it for the rest of his life.

Jacob pulled up to Claire's house and put his car in park. "Do you want us to wait for you?" He asked.

Quil shook his head. "No. Either way I'll walk home." He got out of the car, shut his door, then walked up beside Jacob's door and rapped his knuckles on the window.

"What's up?" Jacob asked as he rolled the window down.

"I just wanted to thank you. You've always been a good friend to me. Better than I deserve."

"Don't sell yourself short man," Jacob told him. "You've been just as good a friend to me."

Quil slapped his hand on the top of Jacob's car and then turned to walk up Claire's driveway.

"Quil!" Jacob called.

"Yeah?" Quil looked back at the car.

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Quil gave them a small wave then shoved his hands in his pockets. He took a deep breath and slowly walked up the driveway. As he walked he tried to think of what he was going to say to Claire. He finally decided he would just speak from his heart.

He climbed up the back porch steps and stood at the door. How many times had he just walked in? The last time he knocked was when he picked Claire up for their first date. Tentatively he reached forward and knocked.

The door opened and Sharon looked out at him.

"So, you are alive," she said.

Quil nodded. "Yeah…..physically at any rate."

Sharon looked at him for a moment and then sighed. "She doesn't want to see you."

Quil looked down and shuffled his feet. He had expected this but it didn't make it any easier to hear. "She really hates me this time, doesn't she?" he asked quietly.

Sharon reached behind the door, grabbed her coat off the rack and then stepped outside. "Let's go for a walk."

Quil felt his insides turn into a quivering pile of mush. Sharon didn't even want him in the house. And now he was going to be forced to go on a walk with yet another person who was most likely going to tell him how much of an asshole he was.

"Come on," Sharon said. She walked down the steps and waited until Quil joined her. She then reached over and linked her arm through his. "Let's go to the river."

Quil took a deep breath. "How bad is it?" He asked as they walked.

"Well I won't lie honey. She is really hurt. I've never seen her this upset."

"Jake said she told you and Sam about yesterday. And she took all the blame for it."

"She did."

"God, Sharon I'm so sorry. I mean you even asked when you left if you could trust me and I looked right at you and lied."

"You didn't lie. I wasn't…..thrilled to hear about the details of what happened. Especially coming from my brother-in-law, but Quil, I know this isn't your fault."

"But it is, don't you see? I'm the adult, you said so yourself. I need to be able to keep things from getting to that point. And I don't think I'm strong enough to do it."

"Oh, I know that's not true."

As they reached the Quileute river, Sharon sat on a small log on the river bank. Quil absently scooped up a handful of gravel and began tossing the rocks into the river.

"I can't help but feel that most of this is my fault," Sharon told him. She put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on her hands.

"Your fault?" Quil turned to look at her.

"Yeah. I thought Claire would be able to handle this." When Quil gave her a questioning look she explained. "Claire's always tried to act more grown up than she is. I think sometimes she manages to fool me and her father into believing she is more grown up. But her actions lately….." Sharon shook her head. "Well honestly I have to say I think I've been a little blind."

"You aren't the only one who's been blind. I mean I knew I wasn't ready to date her yet, but I did it anyway. A part of me did it because I wanted to but I think a bigger part of me did it mainly to please her. All this time I've been afraid that if I didn't give her what she wanted, she'd be mad at me. But now…..I can't help but think that if I had been smarter, I would have said we weren't ready for that yet. The problem now is that it is going to be so hard for me to be with her and not be with her. You understand what I'm saying?"

"Believe me I got quite the description yesterday. I understand exactly what you're saying."

Quil shook his head. "No, I don't just mean……I don't just mean sex, although honestly it's getting harder and harder to not think about. It's everything. I've been waiting for so long and I keep saying just a couple more years, you've waited this long, but she keeps doing the things that she does….and now I want everything. I want to be able to hold her hand in public and be able to take her to a stupid dance without worrying about how it will look to other people. I don't know if I'll be able to go back to being the 'big brother'. Not with her. Not when it's like this." Quil looked down at his feet. "Does that make you mad?"

Sharon smiled. "I'm not mad Quil. I know you love her. I also know that you've tried to keep any of this from happening. I'm sorry that I've put you in such a difficult spot that you felt the only way to get out of it was to hurt her."

"I didn't want to hurt her. I swear I didn't. But this has been eating me up inside. Then when I went to see Haley and talk about it….."

"Who's Haley?"

"She's the bartender at Ruby's. She lives in Forks, she's not a member of the tribe or anything. We were….close at one point a few years ago, and while we aren't close in that way anymore, we still talk a lot…."

"What do you mean you were clo…never mind. I get it. Wait, is that even possible? I thought once you wolf guys imprinted you never even looked at another woman."

"Sharon, I was eighteen and waiting around for a toddler to grow up. It didn't mean anything it was just sex. I stopped it a long time ago."

"I'm sorry, it's none of my business either way. Finish what you were saying."

"Well, so I told her you know, about the situation that happened with Claire. And she freaked out on me. I mean she made me feel so horrible. It was like she confirmed everything bad I thought about myself. I just…. I didn't want to feel that way anymore. Unfortunately I took it all out on Claire. That wasn't right." He sighed. "Do you think she'll forgive me?"

"I'm sure she will."

Quil took a deep breath. "Do you think she'll forgive me when I tell her we still can't be together?"

"Are you going to be able to handle that?"

"I have to. You know it's not right. As much as Claire doesn't want to see it, she's going to have to." Quil shrugged. "It's only another year, right? My right fist still works just fine."

Sharon held up her hand. "I love you, but please."

Quil gave her a small smile. "Sorry. I live with Seth and Embry. Jerk off jokes are inevitable."

Sharon stood up and wiped off the seat of her pants. "Well let's go back. She's in her room. You can go up and talk to her."

"Claire?" Sharon knocked lightly on Claire's bedroom door.

"Mom, I told you I'm not hungry!"

"Honey, Quil's here."

"NO!" Claire shrieked. "I do not want to see him."

"Claire just talk to him for a minute."

"No, I hate him. I don't want to see him, I don't want to talk to him. Make him go away."

Sharon gave Quil a sympathetic look. "I'll go in and talk to her."

Quil shook his head. "No, it's okay. If she doesn't want to see me, I don't want to force her."

"She doesn't mean it you know. She doesn't hate you. I think a lot of this is because her mother and uncle know something intimate about her and she's embarrassed. I think she's blaming you for that."

"No, I was pretty horrible to her last night. I don't blame her for not wanting to talk to me. She has every right to be mad."

"She just needs some time. She'll come around. I promise to make a really good case for you."

"I better go," Quil said quietly. "I'm really sorry about all of this. I never meant for things to be this way."

Sharon patted his arm. "I know you didn't. I'm sorry too. Go on home. I'll work on her."

Quil took a deep breath and nodded. He made his way down the stairs and out of the house. As he stood on the back porch he tried to fight back the tears that he felt building up. He longed for the days when things with Claire had been easy. He remembered again the memories Nessie had shown him, the love he felt in those memories. He prayed that someday soon, he would feel that love again.