A/N: You'll have to forgive me for this chapter, it's not as good as I hoped it would be. I got a little stumped and lost where I was going with it. Anyway, Thanks for reading, reviews are greatly appreciated, and Merry Christmas!
The next few days passed quickly, blending almost seamlessly into each other. Rachel watched as Jacob would come and go, sending him knowing looks but never actually speaking to him about the big 'reveal' and she hadn't seen Paul at all, which left her feeling strangely odd.
Sam had called round the night before with Emily in tow, to introduce them both quickly and invite her to a bonfire being held at the top of the cliff later this evening and she had graciously accepted, somewhat enthused by Emily's apparent eagerness at having another girl there.
"You okay?" Jacob asked as he walked up to the fridge and pulled out a soda, his sudden appearance making Rachel yelp in surprise.
"Shit, don't do that!" She gasped holding her hand over her rapidly beating heart, as Jacob smirked.
"Just think of it as payback for all those times you hid behind my bedroom door and jumped out at me." He said before swallowing half the can of pop in one gulp.
"Are you going to the bonfire tonight?" Rachel asked timidly and Jacob nodded, watching as she shuffled her feet. "Will P…will everyone be there? Should I take something, like a pie or pasta?"
"Everyone will be there." He replied, purposefully ignoring her little slip. "But if your going to bring something it's going to have to be a lot more than one pie. There are eight of us to feed remember? Plus the elders and the family."
"Oh right, well I don't have enough stuff here to make more than one." Rachel frowned and began looking through the cupboards. "Are you busy right now?"
Jacob shook his head "Why?"
"Well I need to return my rental car to the office in Port Angeles; do you think you could follow me down in your car? Then we can hit up the Wal-Mart on the way back for more food supplies." She explained already grabbing her keys and purse. Jake agreed and pulled on his tennis shoes before following her from the house.
"Hey Jake!" They both turned at the sound of his name to find Sam behind them with Paul and Embry. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Can it wait?" Jacob asked "Rachel needs to return her car to the rental company and I was gonna bring her back."
"No," Sam said sternly "give Paul your car key's, he can go with her."
Rachel's eyes flew to Paul's, and she couldn't help notice the small smirk that was itching to free itself and her stomach flipped at the sight of it.
"Can't you just…" Jacob hissed but Sam held a hand up, stopping his words.
"You can't stop this Jake, it's been done and it's not your decision." Sam whispered "Let it go."
Jacob growled and fished his keys from his pocket, shoving them at Paul's chest hard enough to pierce the skin and draw blood. "You do anything to her and I will kill you, do you understand me?"
"You have my full permission." Jacob nodded stiffly and Paul brushed past him and stood next to the rabbit, pausing momentarily to glance a Rachel and wait for her to get in her car.
Rachel found herself growing nervous as she handed back the car keys to the girl behind the counter at the rental office and signed the receipt. She could feel Paul's eyes on her from where he stood out in the parking lot and it sent a shiver through her body, the mere thought of spending the next couple of hours in a car with him was doing funny things to her body.
"Ma'am?" The girl behind the counter called, trying to regain Rachel's attention long enough to return her copy of the receipt, surprising her in the process. Her purse slipped from her hand and the contents spilled over the floor.
"You okay?" Paul asked, suddenly next to her as she knelt to the floor, hastily grabbing the loose change, half empty lip gloss containers and sweet wrappers and shoving them back in to her purse.
"I'm fine; I just got a bit distracted." She replied quietly, feeling her cheeks grow warm and her heart speed up when he handed back her dropped cell phone. "Thanks."
She stood and took the piece of paper that sat on the counter, turning briefly to thank the receptionist only to find that her gaze was locked on Paul and she felt a sudden wave of jealously fill her.
"Can I help you?" The girl asked, standing from her chair and leaning over the counter towards him.
Paul cocked his eyebrow at her and shook his head. "No, I have everything I need thanks." He rested his hand on the small of Rachel's back, quelling her jealously almost immediately. "You done?"
Rachel nodded and left the office, Paul's hand still on her back scorching her skin through her t-shirt. When he pulled away to open the passenger door of the rabbit she almost sighed at the loss of his heat, suddenly craving his closeness.
She sat in the car and shook her head to clear it as she waited for Paul to start the car. "I need to go to the store on the way back please." She said softly as he pulled on to the road.
"Sure." He smiled at her.
"I was going to make some pies for tonight. To take to the bonfire." Rachel exclaimed as suddenly felt the need to fill the silence. "Will you be going?"
Paul chuckled and nodded, "If you're there, then I'm there."
Rachel was slightly taken aback by his answer and swallowed nervously.
"You don't have to bring anything though." Paul said quickly, noticing the sudden shift in her demeanor. "No one expects you too."
"I know." She nodded, and babbled "But I was always told never to go to a party empty handed. Birthdays and Christmas you take presents, barbeque you take salad, for wakes you take casserole, frat parties mean booze and I wasn't sure what to take to a bonfire so pie it is!"
"I'll have to remember that!" He chuckled at her obvious nerves, and silence drifted over them the rest of the way to the store.
"So how many pies are you planning on making?" Paul asked as he dutifully pushed the shopping cart after Rachel as she trawled the aisles, throwing in all different kinds of stuff.
"I don't know, six?" She shrugged "Do you think that will be enough? I mean I've seen Jake eat and he would quite happily scoff a whole one, and there's eight of you…Six isn't going to be enough!"
"Rachel!" Paul smiled grabbing her wrist, stopping her from tossing more sugar into the cart. "Six is fine, it's more than enough, and we can share when we have to. But the bonfire starts in five hours and we still have to get you home, are you gonna have enough time?"
"That's where these come in." She smirked, holding up ready made pie crusts, and Paul chuckled "That's my girl."
They continued down the aisles, occasionally stopping for something. Rachel slowed, letting Paul walk in front of her as she stopped to grab some tinned fruit, using the moment to quietly observe him.
He may have been leaning over the cart but he was obviously tall. His skin was smooth and taught and a shade darker than her own. She guessed it from all the time he spent walking around without a shirt on, and underneath were some glorious muscles. His face displayed an almost boyish grin and his eyes were equally playful.
His eyes. Rachel blushed furiously when she realised she'd been caught staring.
"Hey, where'd you go?" Paul smiled.
Rachel shook her head. "Oh um, I was just trying to figure out what to do for the last pie. Do you…what's your favourite?"
"Mine?" He asked a little surprised "Chocolate Pecan."
"I can do that, I just have to grab your nuts, I mean the Pecan nuts!" She stared wide eyed at an open mouthed Paul, willing the ground to open up and swallow her whole. "I'll get the nuts and we can go." She mumbled, walking away from him.
Together, and in complete silence they headed to the till and paid for the food, the whole time spent with Rachel sending death glares to the young girl scanning her shopping through while she shamelessly ogled an oblivious Paul.
Rachel stormed from the store with her bags, angry that the girl had the audacity to look at Paul like that while she was standing there and even angrier that she felt that way. It wasn't as if she knew him that well.
"Let me take those." Paul said falling into step with her, and attempting to grab a bag from her arms.
"It's fine I can manage." She scowled and turned away but Paul ignored her and took them, nimbly shifting them into one arm as he opened the trunk of the car and placed them inside.
"Is something wrong?" He asked slipping in behind the wheel and looking over at Rachel, who sat with her arms folded and her gaze tightly locked on something outside of the car.
"No!" She hissed, and Paul shrugged and started the car, pulling out of the store lot and back onto the road.
"I mean who does she think she is!" She yelled suddenly, turning her entire body in the seat to face him, and he jumped slightly at the outburst. "We're obviously there together and she spends the whole time drooling over you!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Paul said, confusion etched on his face.
"That girl in the store!" She exclaimed. "She scanned the same jar three times because she was too busy looking at you. I mean I know we're not together or anything, but she didn't and she was so obvious about it, I honestly expected her to jump over the till and dry hump you right there on the conveyer belt!"
Paul stared at her, his mouth opening and closing and his eyes wide. "So… she was looking at me?" He frowned. "And you had a problem with that?"
"It was rude!" She yelled, sinking into her seat, her face flushing red again as she mumbled under her breath. "If I was your girlfriend I would have clawed her eyes out."
Paul smirked "Well if it helps, I didn't notice her at all and if it was a guy looking at you? I would have gladly taken his head off, boyfriend or not."
Rachel frowned and picked at her cuticles and Paul turned his attention back to the road.
"This is weird." She stated quietly, not looking up. "I don't understand where this is all coming from. You're Jake's friend, I don't even know you, but I'm ready to maim anybody who so much as looks at you and I have no idea why!"
"It's not that weird." He replied quietly. "From what I hear it's pretty normal."
"How is this normal?" She exclaimed. "Aside from the other night when you told me about the wolves, this is the longest conversation I've had with you and the entire thing has been about my apparent violent tendencies towards other women where you're concerned!"
Paul chewed his lip as he considered the best way to tell her about the imprint. "Do you know that Sam and Leah Clearwater used to be together?" Rachel frowned at his question but nodded and he continued. "They were together for two years before Sam phased, he had everything planned out for them, home, job and family. Then one day, a couple of months after he first turned into a wolf, he was walking across the reservation when he spotted a woman he'd never seen before and when she turned to look at him his whole world turned upside down."
Rachel was still frowning. "What?"
"At that moment, it was as if the whole world had been pulled out from under him and she replaced it. She became his sun, his air, gravity and his peace. It was Emily." He explained.
"Am I supposed to understand the hell you're talking about?" She scowled and Paul rolled his eyes.
"It's another wolf thing, like the strength, speed or the accelerated healing. It's called imprinting." He sighed "It's like love at first sight, but stronger, much stronger. That person is the one, your absolute soul mate, your one and only. First time we even look at the right person? They become our everything, the centre of the universe as far as we're concerned and everything revolves around them. We can and will do anything for them."
"That's uh…it's" Rachel stammered.
"Weird?" Paul suggested.
"That's one word, yeah!" Rachel nodded. "So Sam imprinted on Emily? But what about Leah?"
"Yeah, obviously it didn't go down so well with Leah." Paul cringed. "Sam tried to deny the imprint for a while, but it was impossible and physically exhausting. It's almost as if you're physically tied to this other person and the further away, the more you ignore it the harder the pull becomes. As much as he loved Leah, and he did, Emily was more."
Paul turned on to the road up to the reservation and Rachel sat watching him as he continued. "Because Leah wasn't a wolf yet or an imprintee, Sam couldn't tell her the truth so all she knew was that the person she loved had chosen someone else over her. About a year later she phased and Sam took her aside to explain it, but it didn't really make a difference."
"Wow." Rachel cocked an eyebrow, and Paul slowed the car to a stop outside the Black's house.
Rachel jumped out the car and walked to the trunk, picking up her grocery bags. Paul stood and leaned against the side of the car, pushing the trunk shut when Rachel had her arms full. "Could you get the door for me?" She asked and Paul ran ahead, opening the front door and holding it wide so she could slip through..
"I have a question." She said as she began putting the contents of the grocery bags away. " If no one is supposed to know about you, then why did you tell me?"
"You haven't figured it out?" Paul smiled softly as she turned to him and frowned in confusion. "I imprinted. On you."