[4 Months later]

As I was running along the perimeter of the reservation boundaries, I couldn't help but think that whoever said that time heals all wounds deserved to get kicked in the nuts.

The other wolves had been supportive over the past few months. Or, at least they had in the beginning. "Just give him time, he'll come around," Sam said reassuringly, about 3 weeks after my imprint had driven out of my life. After I nearly took his head off for it, the others stopped trying to console me so much.

I pushed myself to run as fast as I possibly could. It wasn't necessary, but with the way I'd been sleeping lately, I could use all the help to tire myself out I could get. "You're going to keel over one of these days if you keep pushing yourself like this," my brother's voice slipped into my head as he phased, his thoughts becoming my own. "Geez, you sound just like mom," I thought back. "You going to tell me to be good and eat my vegetables now, too?" I joked, trying to keep my thoughts light. As much as my little brother got on my nerves, he had been there for me when I had, yet again, driven the others off. And for that reason, I tried to keep from directing my anger at him.

In the past few months, I had again tried becoming the master of avoiding Charlie Swan. Seth had come through for me like never before, checking on Charlie when I thought I couldn't handle it and giving me daily updates on what and how he was doing. I was sure he left certain things out for my benefit, but it was enough. At least, I told myself it was. I had no idea if Charlie had been checking on me like I was him. If he was talking to my mom, she wasn't sharing. I was sure he probably wasn't, but I desperately wanted to believe he cared enough to worry. I wasn't sure why it mattered so much to me, but it did. Maybe, selfishly, I didn't want to be the only one suffering.

At the mention of vegetables, my brother's thoughts turned to the baked ziti our mom had fed him before sending him off on patrol and I felt my stomach twinge as it snarled. "Go get dinner," my brother ordered. "Mom said she'd come out looking for you if you weren't home soon anyway." I wouldn't put anything past that woman. I made my way to the trees just to the left of our house and phased back to my human form, quickly pulling on the clothes I kept hidden out there.

As I made my way towards the front porch, I noticed that the paint on the railing was starting to chip. I made a mental note to pick up some paint the next time I was at Forks Outfitters. I searched for distractions like that, but unfortunately for me, they weren't so easy to find after I had all but done everything on my mother's to-do list within two weeks. Not to mention that vampire activity had been zilch, even with the Cullen's spending more and more time away as Nessie grew up. Their excuse for the trips was so she could spend more time in public. But, in their absence, things were quiet.

I stepped into the house, realizing just how quiet it was with just my mother there. Normally you would find at least two or three of the pack members here, especially the younger ones, begging for food. Jake, of course, wasn't around much these days with Nessie being gone. He was wherever she was and Embry was taking time off to take care of his mom who had fallen ill. The younger pack members were back in school. Life continued on the rez, even if I wasn't sure I wanted it to.

There was a note on the counter from my mom informing me that she was spending the night at Billy's and that I was to take the night off. I scrunched my face up at the thought of my mom spending the night at Billy's place and tossed the note aside, scooping the pasta on to a plate. At least she wasn't home to make sure I took the night off.

Because we were seriously short staffed, so to speak, that meant a lot more patrolling for the rest of us. But, on the plus side, we were patrolling so much that I didn't have a lot of time to think of… other things. Okay, who am I trying to fool? I could have been patrolling 24-hours a day and still not have enough on my plate to keep my mind off Charlie. I couldn't even stay away from him. Not completely, anyway. When the space between us got to be too much, I would sneak into his house while he was asleep. It wasn't really breaking and entering because I knew where he hid the spare key. At least, that's what I told myself, even though I knew I was no better than that mind reading leech. The pull was just too strong to resist and thankfully the guys didn't bring it up, even though I knew the scent from his house was all over me.

It's not like I did anything inappropriate while I was there. I would occasionally clean. Sometimes I made him lunch for the next day. I wasn't sure I should do that until Seth told me he had seen Charlie with the paper bag on his way to work. It had been the highlight of my week. How sad is that? Mostly, though, I just sat on the edge of Charlie's bed and ran my fingers through his hair while he slept. I knew how creepy it would look to everyone around me. And how freaked out Charlie would have ever been if he had woken up with me there. It didn't matter, though. I was going to take time with him however I could get it. Don't judge.

I plopped down on the couch, plate in hand, and started scarfing down my dinner. This is how my life went now. Wake up from mostly sleepless nights, eat, get a run down from Seth, patrol, eat again, patrol some more, stalk the Chief of Police, and crawl back in bed. Although, I doubted I would see Charlie tonight. I really did try to limit my stalking to a few days a week.

Grabbing the remote, I started flipping through the channels. Nothing but re-runs and news. "For fuck's sake," I muttered as I tossed the remote aside a little too hard, cringing as it hit the ground and broke apart. One more thing to add to my shopping list.

When things got quiet, I constantly wished for something to keep my mind busy. A stray vamp. Something. Anything. Just a little action to pass the time. Hell, I would have taken some training with the guys. But we didn't need to train now. There were no threats, no looming disasters. That was, until the day I got my wish, the day that changed things forever.