Author's Note: PLEASE READ. Well, hello. Do you remember me? I don't even know where to begin my apologies. It's been almost a year, and I can't believe it. I don't want to give you excuses, but I owe you an explanation. Last December, when I promised my next update (woah!), I had a death in the family. I was in my final year of college, finding an internship, looking at jobs, and completing finals. Everything combined sent me into a spiraling depression, that I couldn't drag myself out of. I knew what was happening, I knew how different I was, but I couldn't pull myself out. I couldn't admit anything was wrong, and I didn't want anyone to know. It took me months to get help, and by then I was graduating college, not finding a job in this economy, and applying to graduate school. The summer came and went, and I was finally myself again. Then graduate school started, and I was way over my head. I got into a really, really good school, but I began to question how that happened and what was going on. Now, I'm beyond stressed, don't have a moment to breathe in any of my days, and am not performing in school at the level I want to be. On top of all of that, somewhere in that time period my laptop literally caught on fire (no exaggeration) and I lost everything. Including my saved stories (far more than I've posted on here).

So what did I decide to do? Find what I love again. That's writing. I had this story idea nagging in my head, so I spent one night, and just wrote and wrote and wrote. I felt…I can't even describe it when I finished. I just know that I want to bottle up that feeling and keep it forever. So next thing you know, I had half of a story completed and I knew that I wanted to post again. Then I realized, how can I post a new story when I have left people hanging on two chapters of my old one? So I stayed up to a ridiculously late hour, and wrote some more for this one. It's so hard rewriting something you've written and lost, because you never feel like anything adds up to what you already did, and that it's dejavu and your creative juices don't flow the same. But, I'm one of those people who hate when a writer abandons a story, and I refuse to be one. So this story is getting written and will be finished. I can't promise it will be fast, as grad school is kicking my butt, but it will happen.

Along with that, I am posting the other story. It's called "Love Lockdown" and is also a Paul/Bella. It wasn't when I wrote it…it was original characters. But I wanted to make it for this fandom and for those people who had so much faith in me after two chapters, that I edited it to fit, and I think it works. It's hard doing two stories for the same pairing, but the only characters who would fit in my other one were Paul and Bella. I hope you take a chance on that one too, and read and review.

Thank you to everyone who is reading this and has stuck around. I promise that I will finish both of these stories for you, as timely as I can. I also promise that I'm shutting up now.

Disclaimer: I still don't own it. Everything belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I just like to play around.

Paul POV

I idly picked at a muffin, somehow not having my full appetite. I didn't know if it was a side effect of the imprint, or just Bella, but either way I didn't feel much like eating, which was a scary thought. My brothers quickly moved past the Bella and Jake topic, but I couldn't get her out of my mind. I didn't know how to even get near her, but Sam said we'd worry about it when Jake got back.

My ears perked up when I heard the heavy rumbling of Bella's old pickup, but I thought my mind was playing tricks on me—hearing what I so badly wanted to hear. Jake wouldn't have driven her truck back, he would've run. Besides, he was probably at her house loving up to her and poisoning her mind with how evil I am.

I couldn't help the growl I released, and Jared started laughing at me.

"Damn Paul, your imprint comes back and you're going to scare her off again?"

I was too busy processing his words to even get pissed that he was laughing at me. Bella's back? I'm not imagining the sounds of the truck? I wouldn't be surprised if I was going crazy—everything about this scenario is crazy.

I cocked my head, listening intently, and almost jumped out of my skin when I heard two car doors close and a hiss of pain.

"Bells?" I heard Jake question.

"Wrong hand," I heard the sweet voice respond.

"Oh Bells," Jake tried to hold in a chuckle. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up and get me Advil," Bella grumbled.

I looked at Sam panicked, and saw that both he and my brothers were trying to hold in their grins. Douchebags.

"Sam?" I whispered, panicked. He just continued to grin at me.

"Sam!" I whisper-yelled. "What do I do?" Nerves were new for me. A foreign feeling.

Emily, seeing her imprint had no interest in saving my hide, took pity on me. "Just be yourself Paul," she told me softly. "Because that is exactly what Bella needs."

I heard the screen door open and close, and I started eating my muffin, trying to play it nonchalant.

"Jake?" Jared questioned, when he and Bella came into view. Surprisingly, he wasn't touching her. "Did you forget to drop someone off?"

Jake didn't even grin. He met my eyes and held me in a stare down. I saw something in my eyes that gave me a tiny sliver of hope—but I squashed it down. Surely Little Alpha isn't going to give up the girl of his dreams that easily.

Mine. My wolf growled inside of me, angered at the thought of Bella being the girl of Jake's dreams.

Ours. I told him.

I shifted my gaze from Jake to Bella, taking in her nervous and confused appearance. She looked like she wanted to bolt—like she felt she didn't belong here.

Oh, how wrong she is.

The silence in the room was building, as Jake didn't respond to Jared's joke. I saw Bella look at the floor, clearly embarrassed and not wanting to be the center of attention. I took the pass to let my gaze roam her body, trying to memorize every single part of her, just in case I never got to see her again.

I stifled a gasp as the pain stabbed through my chest, almost unbearably.

Letting my gaze continue my thorough inspection of her, my heart stopped as it came across her right hand, covered in a bag of ice. From what I could see under the ice, her hand was black and blue, and definitely did not look good.

"Your hand," I gasped through the pain. I hurt her. My imprint. Hurt. I hurt her. I hurt my imprint. Me. Hurt her.

Bella's gaze shot up to meet mine. "Yeah," She said quietly. Then, seeming to know what I needed, she made a joke, "Someone's hard-headed."

The house shook from the pack's roar of laughter. My lips twitched up into a half smile, but I couldn't remove my eyes from her hand.

"It's okay Paul," My girl told me, the tone of her voice forcing my eyes to meet hers. I saw nothing but sincerity in them. "I'm so sorry for hitting you. This is completely my fault. No one ever deserves to be hit, and you surely didn't."

She was apologizing to me? She practically broke her hand on my face because I got angry and smart with her, and she's apologizing to me? I don't think I've ever met someone more good-hearted.

"Bella," I whispered brokenly, sounding way less of the man I was. I shot a quick glare at Jared, warning him not to do open his mouth.

"Don't worry about it Paul," she told me. "If it wasn't your face, it would have been me walking into a wall."

Oh great, so she gets hurt easily? My heart can't take this. I started scanning the room surreptitiously, trying to find all the hazards. I could hear Jared laughing at me, but didn't want to stop my pursuit of all the dangers that could hurt me imprint. Strip me of my man card, I really don't care. The only thing I care about is standing ten feet in front of me.

"Emily," I spoke when I finished my scan of the house. "Do you have any Advil for Bella?"

Jake grunted, moving away from Bella and plopping into a chair at the table. He grabbed a muffin, and stuffed it into his mouth, ignoring the questioning look from Embry.

"Sure," Emily wiped her hands on a dish towel, heading toward the bathroom medicine cabinet to grab the pills needed.

Bella stood looking even more uncomfortable after Jake walked away, her face turning red from all of our eyes on her.

"Can I take a look at your hand?" I asked her quietly, hoping not to startle her, like you would a scared animal.

She nodded, before slowly making her way to the seat next to me. Sitting down, she lifted her hand onto the table, wincing in anger.

All of our eyes were looking at her hand, as I gently took the ice off. Gently? Maybe this imprint was exactly what we both needed. Screw Sam and his theory of it being for mating and bettering the pack. This is for us, and I'm going to do everything I can to ensure that the imprint works as planned.

My heart got stuck in my throat, and I tried desperately to swallow the lump in it.

"I think it's broken," I heard Sam tell Bella. It's hard to tell because everything we've had is healed within hours, and we hardly bruise or swell. With Bella's pale skin, the bruises and discoloring stood out gruesomely. The pain from hurting my imprint was threatening to swallow me whole, but I manned up and looked into her eyes for permission.

Meeting her gaze was like imprinting all over again. I shook myself out of my Bella-induced stupor, when I saw the slight nod and smile she gave me.

Having her permission, I gently grabbed her hand, barely stopping the shudder from overtaking my body. The electric shock from skin on skin was intense, and I suddenly found myself picturing us full skin-on-skin. No Paul, take care of her. Her needs come first.

I gently ran my thumb over the bones in her hand, cringing when I heard her cry of pain. Knowing in my gut that she's not a big baby, I confirmed Sam's diagnosis.

"He's right Bella," I confirmed sadly. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Paul, please stop apologizing," Bella begged. "The emergency room doctors know me by heart. This is nothing new."

I glanced at Jake, and saw him meet my gaze. I was close to begging, but I'd never do that. We seemed to read each other's thoughts and feelings in that brief second, and Jake gave an imperceptible nod. I couldn't believe it. This gave me a few more minutes with her before I potentially lost her forever.

"Bella, I know you have a lot of questions," I told her, watching her nod eagerly in affirmation. "But I think it's best if we hold off for a bit so that you can get your hand taken care of, and then we'll reconvene here."

Bella nodded grudgingly, clearly wanting answers about us wolves.

"I agree with Paul," Sam spoke up, clearly shocked to be uttering those words. "Pack meeting in two hours. That should give Bella plenty of time to get taken care of at Forks Hospital."

"Bella, if you don't mind," I began, thankful for my toasty temperature, otherwise sweat would be breaking out on my forehead from nerves. "I feel that the least I can do is escort you to the ER."

"Paul, you don't have to do that. I told you, no big deal," She assured me, looking to Jake.

"Bells, I gotta go help out my Dad for a bit. Have Paul drive you, it'll be okay. I'll see you in a couple of hours," Jake excused his self, forcing his body out the door like it took all of his strength to do so.

"Ok-ay," Bella drug out, clearly confused by Jake's abrupt departure. I almost wanted to thank Little Alpha. Almost.

"C'mon Swan," I stood up fast, making my chair fly across the floor. I shot an apologetic look to Sam, who only laughed at my zeal. "I'll answer whatever questions I can on the drive to the hospital."

"Sure, sure," She agreed easily, adopting Jake's signature phrase, making a growl form in my chest, too low for human hearing. She stood from her seat and squared her shoulders, looking at me sternly. "I'm-."

"No, I'm driving," I finished her sentence, freaking us both out. The shocked look on our faces must have been hilarious, if the guys' laughter was any indication.

Shaking my head and shooting them all a glare, I put my hand on her lower back, escorting her out of the house.

The shock that went through me when I made contact with her again surprised me, and I wasn't able to stifle the shudder this time. I don't remember Sam or Jared feeling like this when they touched their imprints. What was going on?

"What are you doing to me?" Bella murmured so low, that if I didn't have advanced hearing I never would have heard her.

I had no idea what we were doing to each other, but I couldn't repress my shit-eating grin as we made our way toward Bella's truck.

I was going to obey the speed limits for the first time in my life. With the Advil kicking in, her pain would be tolerable, and I wanted to spend every minute I could with her in the tiny cab of her truck.

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