Five days.
That's how long it had been since Rachel had woken up wrapped in Paul's arms. It had been three days since he'd failed to convince her to stay and dropped her off at SeaTac.
Sixty-eight hours, twenty-four minutes and forty-five seconds since she'd ripped herself away from him at the gate and watched his trembling form until she couldn't see through the haze of tears anymore.
It was eight hours later when Jacob finally managed to get her on the phone and tell her that Paul hadn't come home and that the rabbit was still in the airport car park, with the keys sitting in the ignition.
Two days since she'd started her new job at the law firm and four hours since she'd quit.
It wasn't supposed to be this hard, not because of someone she'd only just met.
Rachel sandwiched the phone between her ear and shoulder, listening to the ring as she pulled her suitcase from under the bed.
"Hello?" A gruff voice spoke when the phone finally connected.
"Dad!" She exclaimed flinging open the case and running to her closet. "It's me, have you heard anything? Is Jake there"
"Calm down girly," Billy sighed " Jake and Jared are still out looking, but they can't get a read on him so he's either not phasing or he's well out of range."
"Oh my god, this is all my fault!" Rachel said, her voice breaking as she sat on the bed resting her head in her hand. "I should never have left. I should've stayed with him and he'd be home where he belongs and I wouldn't feel like my stomach is being ripped from body."
"Baby girl…" Billy started, listening to her sobs.
"I have to go, dad." She said sniffing and wiping her face. "My plane leaves in two hours and I still need to pack and get to the airport."
"Where are you going? What about work?" He asked.
"I quit. I'm coming home dad, I can't stay away from him anymore, it hurt's too much." She explained "I'll be back by tomorrow morning. I need to call a cab."
"Okay Rachel, let me know when you land." Billy said before she said her goodbye and disconnected the call to dial for a cab.
She grabbed her clothes from the closet and stuffed them in to her case, throwing her shoes on top. As she was getting her things from the bathroom the intercom buzzed. She ran to the front door and pressed the talk button, the voice of the driver informing her that he was downstairs waiting and she all but sprinted out of the apartment, only stopping to stuff her cases into the trunk and instruct the driver of her destination.
The journey to the airport was hasty and she threw her money through the window before racing in to the departure terminal.
"Passport please?" the man at the check in desk asked, not looking at her and already typing away on his computer,
Rachel handed it over, leaning against the counter as she tried to regain her breath, listening to the keys taping.
"Eleven forty flight to Seattle?" The man confirmed as she nodded and instructed her to place her bag on the conveyer belt. "You're lucky." He said, pulling her attention back to him. "Another sixty seconds and the gate would've closed. Are you okay?"
Rachel nodded. "I'm okay thank you, just anxious to get home." She smiled weakly, her eye's glistening with tears for what felt like the millionth time that day.
"Someone special waiting for you?" He pushed, turning back to his screen.
"Something like that." She replied and then thanked him as he returned her passport and boarding pass and sent her in the direction of the gate.
When she was finally seated on the plane, she let out a breath that she didn't even realise she'd been holding and let her eyes drop closed with the comforting though that she would be home soon.
Five hours and she'd be home.
And then she would have to find Paul.
At seven thirty the next morning, Rachel found herself exiting yet another cab outside her childhood home and was greeted on the porch by her father, who took one look at her and merely shook his head.
Paul still wasn't home, and no one had heard from him.
She dragged her bags in to her room and found that the bed had been fixed. Throwing herself down on to it she buried her head and the pillow and drew in a deep breath. Even after almost a week, the musty cinnamon scent that belonged to Paul was ingrained in the down of the pillow and it swirled around her, her chest heaving with dry sobs, the last bit of her strength slipping from her body.
"Rachel!" Her head shot up at the sound of her fathers voice. "They found him, he phased and they tracked him. He's up in the Cascades."
"Is he coming back?" She squeaked.
"He's already on his way. He turned back the second Jake told him you were on your way home."
Paul stood in the middle of the airport lobby, watching helplessly as Rachel walked away from him. He watched until he couldn't see her anymore, but he could hear the sobs.
He could tell she didn't want to leave so why the hell was she going?
Because she needed too. That's what she'd told him when he asked her one last time this morning, when she woke up with her limbs entwined with his and found him watching her intently.
And she'd asked him again to come with her, telling him that her newly rented apartment was big enough for the two of them to manage in.
But he couldn't. Sam had caught him thinking about the first time she'd asked him and felt his resolve slipping and forbade him from going to Atlanta. There was too much that needed to be done and they were still waiting for Bella to return from her honeymoon and find out whether the treaty had been violated.
He could feel his body convulsing as the wolf inside him literally clawed at his broken interior, raging at him to let loose and go after her. To drag her back kicking and screaming if he had to.
A growl rumbled in his throat and he turned and ran, ignoring the looks from shocked travellers as her barrelled through them, jumping over stacked luggage trolleys and narrowly missing a cart being driven by airport security.
Paul found the car and yanked the door open, willing his body to stay whole as the car rumbled into life. He breathed deeply, trying and failing to calm his raging spirit.
"Fuck!" He screamed, smacking his fist against the steering wheel and finally unleashing a tirade of expletives and pummelling every surface within reach, jumping back out of the car and kicking the door shut with such force that it buckled as it closed and he sank to his knees.
"Dude?" A voice called nervously from behind him and he turned to find a rather large but shocked looking man. "Are you alright?"
Paul stood and growled through his clenched teeth and the man backed away as he ran straight past him, through the parking lot and on to the road.
And he kept running.
His chest burned with exertion, but he kept moving along the side of the road ignoring the beeps from angered drivers and still fighting the urge to dissolve into his wolf. If he did that, the rest of the pack would hear him, they would find and he didn't want to go home.
She was his home.
As soon as he found tree cover he dove into it, branches whipping against his skin and leaving small welts that were gone almost as soon as they appeared and brambles that tore into his t-shirt leaving it tattered.
After what seemed like hours he finally allowed himself to slow to a stop at the edge of a small lake, the cooling air flowing over his skin and wetness seeping through his shorts as he sat against a tree with his head on his knees.
They'd miss him soon if they weren't already. He'd already been gone over half the day and darkness was coming.
Would Jacob tell her that he'd gone? Would she even care?
Paul scoffed at his thought, willing himself not to care anymore. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
His stomach rumbled angrily, and he growled spitting a pit from his mouth. Two and half days of nothing but berries were beginning to take there toll on Paul, especially considering he hadn't gone a day since he phased without at least two of Emily's mammoth meals passing his lips.
He stood up, brushing the dirt and twigs from the back of his shorts and to another glance around his surroundings. He'd found a small river nearby that contained Salmon and maybe if he could catch one he'd could cook it.
Paul toed of his sneakers and slid his shorts off, wading knee deep into the water. He stood watching the fish swim around him getting closer and closer and he dove forward grasping at one, growling and sputtering when he gripped empty water and the momentum sent him sprawling.
He stood, sputtering and shaking letting out an almost ear splitting howl as his skin disintegrated from his body.
"Paul!" Jared's voice broke through as soon as he'd phased, "Fuck man! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Get out of my head Jere, this is nothing to do with you!" He growled, leaping from the water and running further into the trees
"Come on Paul, I know it's hard but…" Jared sighed.
"No you don't, you have no idea what I feel!" Paul snapped "Kim's been planning your wedding since freshman year, she already wanted you regardless of the imprint, she didn't deny you or fly halfway across the country. So don't you try to tell me you know how I feel!"
"Sorry, dude." Jared replied and his thoughts quietened.
"Paul?" Jacobs voice appeared. "You need to come home."
"Like hell I do!" Paul scoffed.
"No listen," he exclaimed. "Rachel called my dad last night. She's on a plane, she's coming home."
Paul skidded to a stop and rounded immediately. "She is? For how long?"
"She quit her job and left the keys to her apartment." Jacob explained. "I don't think she's planning on leaving for a while."
"When does she get here?" He asked, speeding up.
"Her plane lands in three hours, she'll be home by the morning." Jacob said, "And don't think I didn't notice what you did to my car, you're paying for that shit!"
Rachel paced the porch, her fingernails bitten down to the bed.
"Rachel, honey. Why don't you come in side, have a drink and maybe sit down for five minutes." Billy asked from the door. "Walking back and forth like isn't going to make him get here any faster."
"You think he'll hate me?" She said stopping suddenly and turning to him. "I mean I wasn't denying him when I went to Atlanta, I needed to go, I needed to do it for myself…At least I think I did?"
"I don't think he could hate you even if he wanted to." Billy shrugged.
"He should." She sighed, rubbing her brow.
"I don't hate you." Rachel whipped round to find Paul standing a few feet away, his shoulders slumped and exhaustion clouding his face.
"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, running straight for him, the force of her body as he caught her almost knocking him down. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay." He whispered, nuzzling her hair and clutching her tighter.
"No, no it's not okay!" She leaned back and wiped the tears from her face. "I know you didn't chose this, and I shouldn't have blamed you for it."
"I'm not gonna pretend it didn't hurt. Being more than two feet from you is hard!" He chuckled humourlessly, clutching her face between his hands. "But you came back and right now that's all I can think about. Just please, don't leave me again?"
Rachel shook her head. "I don't think I could even if I wanted too."
"Then it's okay." He smiled. "Okay?" She nodded and smiled.