A/N: Kudos to my beta, ShadowPast620.
Bella awoke to the constant beeping sound she knew was Paul's alarm clock. For some strange reason, it sounded louder than normal and she tried to bury her head further into the pillow, willing the sound to shut off so that she could sleep some more. Blessedly, the sound turned off and Bella began to drift back into slumber, eeping suddenly and loudly when she felt a warm object press against her cheek.
"Shh, Urchin. It's okay, you can sleep for a few more minutes. I'm gonna take a shower," her Paul man whispered affectionately.
Despite the warmth and feeling of lips across her cheek, Bella knew she had to be dreaming. She had gone to sleep before the Paul man had, and in her own bed! No way had she snuck in here to sleep close by last night; she had been really tired.
Her body automatically rolled closer the spot he had just left, the heat more than she could ignore. Before she could even distinguish the sound of running water, her eyes closed and Bella fell back asleep into the warmth left by her Paul man.
There was a small tingling bringing her back to semi consciousness. It disturbed Bella's sleep but not enough to trigger any instinctual alarms or anything that might require self-preservation. With a half-hearted swipe, her hand swept across her face. Not rough or impacting, but in a way to erase the small vibrational disturbance. Instead she met opposition.
Something large and warm had encased her hand, making Bella tug slightly before giving up and allowing her hand to rest where it was while she drifted back to sleep.
"Urchin." The name was heated and comforting, ghosting across her face like a second blanket. "Come on, little critter. I need you to wake up now. I know it's early, but it'll be the weekend soon and then we can sleep in," the voice promised her.
Bella could only smile and attempted to snuggle further into the comfortable surroundings. Sleep was a rare commodity and since she knew, could feel the field of safety around her, her eyes didn't want to open.
'I know, Urchin. I want nothing more than to crawl back in bed with you and snuggle all cozy like. But we have to get a move on. It's Wednesday and Kim is expecting you to show up soon, along with my boss who'd like my ass to be on time. Please wake up."
Something in the words troubled Bella. She didn't know of anyone named Kim or a boss. Frowning, she struggled against the weight of her eyes, finally succeeding in cracking one open enough to make out her Paul's face.
"Good morning, Urchin," he whispered, his face coming in even closer as he kissed her cheek. "I need you to get up so we can get ready to leave."
Again, the confusion bloomed within Bella's mind. She was in his bed, sleeping and he wasn't upset about it at all. The comfort and warmth erased any anxiety she might have felt otherwise, and Bella could only smile in contentment.
"That's what I love to see," her Paul man continued to whisper, his happiness matching hers. "Do you want to shower while I make breakfast?"
Bella was entirely too content and happy to think about moving to the shower. Her head moved lazily as she shook it gently, her eyelids still threatening to weld shut.
"I think you should jump in just to wake up, but I won't make you. However, I just might throw you in there anyways so you'll definitely be awake," Paul teased, his smile disappearing when Bella lurched upwards quickly. Her head nearly hit his chin as she tried to crawl out of the bed as fast as possible, all of her comfort feelings gone with the threat of a forced water incident.
If the Paul man had wanted to terrify her into submission, he had succeeded. Bella knew better than to assume all was well and that he truly didn't care one way or another if she should take a shower. It had been another test, subtle yet all together there for her to see and Bella had ignored the signs.
Before he could say anything else, Bella ran towards the washroom and shut the door, quickly turning on the shower to get under the spray before the water could even heat up. The last thing she needed right now was for him to come into the room and think she was only pretending to get clean, or worse, that he might have to submerge her by hand.
The icy water struck sharp and fast and Bella began to shiver violently, her thoughts and mind catapulting her away from the here and now and back to some past event she neither understood nor could clearly remember. There was a lot of yelling, the voices laced with surprise, anger, shock and then resignation. It was that last tenor of feelings that Bella tried to grasp ahold of, her chest hurting as the sound faded and morphed into something sinister.
Even though the water began to heat up, Bella was still stuck in her memories, someone she recognized as bad, calling her names and swearing both at her and around her before unimaginable pain bloomed throughout her body and gathered into a solid block of ice.
"Urchin, you okay in there?" the Paul man asked as he rapped his knuckles across the bathroom door. The new sound brought Bella out of her grim trance, her memories washing away faster than the water that was disappearing down the drain.
She had no idea how long she had been in the shower, but figured if he was asking such a question, it was past time for her to get out. In answer to the Paul man's question, she turned the shower off, hoping he wouldn't come in before she had a chance to put her clothes back on.
"Okay," he finally said. "We have like ten minutes before we have to absolutely leave, so make sure you give yourself enough time to eat the grub I made. I'll be out in the kitchen."
Bella waited a minute before daring to open the door, ducking her head around the crack she had allowed to make sure he really wasn't in the room before she darted across the area and hallway into her own room where she could dress in something different and then meet him in the kitchen.
Paul leaned against the counter chugging his rancid ass tasting coffee and trying not to stare impatiently at the damn clock telling him his time was running short. He had stupidly thought his urchin would forgive his sorry ass for last night's fuck up with the paper, but that sure as shit hadn't happened. All those first wake-up smiles had to have been her still partially asleep and not remembering that she was –probably correctly so—pissed off at him.
Urchin's response didn't fit exactly right, though. Paul had briefly sensed her sudden fear and although he didn't want to fucking admit it, it probably had everything to do with him gleeful-fucking-dumbly toting her into his bed last night.
Honestly, he could care less. Not that his girl was pissed off, Paul cared way too fucking much about that fact to be happy. He was concerned because she had not woken up last night to eat and now here they were, about to be running late and she still hadn't come out to eat breakfast, either. Paul seriously fucking hoped Kim hadn't thrown away Jared's secret-but-everyone-knew-about-it stash of junk food. If there was one thing he knew Urchin would eat, and hoard, it was those snack sized bags of chips, crackers, cookies and whatever else made nutritionists gasp in horror and made Urchin light up like a holiday parade.
Looking at the clock again, Paul realized they only had six minutes left to lollygag. He really fucking didn't want to have to track her down, but she needed to at least hold the PB&J toast sandwich he had made. Maybe then his inner wolf would stop giving him so much shit and shut the fuck up. Slurping the last dredges of the toxic tar his coffee pot made, Paul set the cup down to hunt out his urchin. His startled ass nearly knocked the damn mug off the counter when she walked in before he could move.
Her head was bowed and it took Paul a few seconds to muzzle his inner whininess before he could actually speak normally.
"Here." Picking up her morning chow, Paul approached Urchin in hopes that she would be okay enough to actually spend the day with Kim; an imprint she had only briefly met and hadn't showed any emotion towards. Today was either going to go off without a hitch or blow the fuck up in his face.
At least Urchin didn't hesitate to grab the sandwich from him and she immediately began to eat it, easing the wolf slightly as she chewed and swallowed without complaint.
"I know you didn't eat dinner last night and while we only have time for that sandwich now, I'll make sure Kim knows you could probably go for another breakfast in a few hours."
Urchin looked up questioningly and Paul smile in reassurance. "It's okay; Kim isn't much of an early morning person either, so it won't be any inconvenience for her to make food for you later, okay?"
She nodded quickly, her gaze looking past Paul to the counter in search…fuck! He forgot to make her a cup of coffee as well. There wasn't enough time now and it made him feel even shittier for fucking forgetting to make her a to-go cup of death.
"Sorry, Urchin, I didn't make you a cup. I promise to make it up to you, but right now, we really need to jet. Are you ready?" Paul asked, watching as his girl answered by leaving the kitchen to the hallway where her shoes were.
He gave a semi sigh of resignation and joined her, grabbing a jacket, keys and his wallet as he shut and locked the front door. The ride to Kim's was eerily silent. Not that Paul expected it to be filled with incessant chattering or any of that shit. For once, he couldn't figure out if it was his own emo ass making the jeep cab feel stifling or if he was just reading too much of Urchin's emotions.
"Fuck," Paul cursed to himself as they pulled into Cameron's driveway. Paul knew Jared wasn't home, considering this had all been set up so that Urchin wouldn't freak out any more than necessary. Jared had agreed to run an early patrol and then drop by Quil's house to shower and change before going to work.
Obviously Jared had held up to his end of the deal, but Paul had also assumed that when Jared had left this morning, Kim would be awake. Or at least still up expecting Urchin's arrival. The house, however, was pitch black and not a sound could be heard.
"Come on, Urchin," Paul urged, helping her out of the jeep and slamming the door before tugging his girl towards the front of the house. Her feet were kind of dragging and Paul couldn't blame her. Out here when it still looked like nighttime, the Cameron house was kind of spooky. The downside to this was that their house was very artistic looking; a weathered cabin transformed into a type of cottage.
Paul had actually helped Jared with some of the modifications. Jared had whined for nearly a month about how Kim thought the place looked like a serial killer's dreamscape and out of sheer frustration, Paul had finally stepped in and told Jared he'd help out in making some adjustments.
Most of the work would have cost a lot to be done, but only because of the manual labor involved and not the supplies needed to accomplish the task. If there was one thing La Push had, it was plenty of manual labor. Together with Seth and Collin, Jared and Paul had constructed stone pillars to form a wraparound porch to the front of the house and an additional stone room to the back of the house.
Paul was pretty fucking sure the only reason he had followed through on helping Jared out was because it meant he was able to be his usual dickish self and no one dared to say shit about it, even Jared who would back up Paul's attitude with a look of pleading to Collin and Seth. It's for my imprint, he would mouth silently to them, ignoring Paul's snickers when the guys would roll their eyes, heave, and then continue to do as asked.
"Kim!" Paul bellowed as he pounded on their front door. "Wake up, Kimmy, I have got to go!" Paul carried on in a similar fashion for all of the forty five seconds it took Kim to stumble to the door and open it.
Blearily, she squinted at Paul then Urchin before turning her half closed stare back to Paul. "Jeez, Paul, you about gave me a heart attack. Must you be so loud?" Kim asked, covering her mouth as a yawn overcame her.
"Yes, actually, I do, considering you asked for this day and were told what hours were required. I really have to go so I can get my ass to work on time." With a slightly rude push, Paul forced Kim back into her house while pulling along an urchin as well with a much more loving and gentle grip.
"Right, so you remember Kim, huh, Urchin?" Paul asked, completely ignoring the other woman next to him as he kneeled down to be closer to Urchin's eye level. He was relieved when her gaze only faltered slightly at looking in Kim's direction then settled back to Paul where she gave a nod.
"Same shit, then, okay? Kim's gonna…do whatever it is that she does and you can help her or keep her company or watch TV all day if you want to. I'm sure she can show you the kitchen and where shit is if you get hungry or thirsty." Casting a quick glance at Kim, Paul decided to rile her up a bit. Maybe then she wouldn't look like she was ten seconds away from falling asleep again.
"And if she doesn't," Paul continued on, looking straight at his girl and pretending Kim couldn't hear, "just do your thing and go through the cabinets and fridge anyways. If it's there and you want it, you can eat it."
That was definitely all it took to wake up Kim. "Paul Lahote! You act as if I have no manners or anything," she accused him shrilly. "And like it's polite to tell a person to just rummage through their host's home. God, are you trying to make her as much of an ass as you are? Get out of here before I have to hurt you."
"Relax there, princess," Paul said, unable to hide his smirk as he stood back up. "I just needed to make sure Urchin understood she could have anything she might need."
Now that Kim did appear to be awake, Paul lowered his voice to one of a more serious tone. "Look, Urchin had a quick sandwich but she wasn't feeling too good last night and didn't have dinner so if you eat later, please feed her as well."
"Get out of here, Lahote," Kim answered, pushing his frame towards the door. "I'm not about to let her starve or withhold food if she wants it. Stop being such a wuss and leave. We'll be fine."
Kim had the door almost shut on Paul before he shoved his arm outwards to hold it open for one last reminder. "Urchin didn't get to have any coffee this morning. Don't forget to let her have some. Oh! And let her add whatever she wants, she knows how much sugar she likes."
Kim just rolled her eyes as she continued to push against the door. "I got it, Lahote. Arial is an adult. I'm sure we'll be just fine." She stayed leaning against the door until she heard Lahote's jeep start up and squeal down the driveway before she addressed Arial.
"Is he always like this, Arial?" the Kim woman asked Bella. She looked kind of upset, but not because of her and Bella wondered if all of these people her Paul had called 'friends' were mad at him.
With a small shrug, Bella tried to look like she wasn't completely sure what Kim meant. It wasn't entirely an act, though, as Bella didn't know exactly what 'this' Kim was referring to.
"Don't worry about it," Kim said, yawning again. "I'm too tired to think and Lahote always did march to a different beat. Take off your coat and come in. We can go sit in the living room."
Kim waited while Bella shrugged off her coat and then took it from her to hang on a peg. "You can either leave your shoes on or off. The floor is kind of cold, but we have rugs in the other rooms to help."
Kim tried not to gasp in shock when Bella crumbled right where she stood, hastily tearing at the laces of her boots. She really wanted to ask what was wrong, but Arial looked determined to take them off. Probably because they were extremely ugly, Kim thought sympathetically.
Eventually they made their way into the cozy living room, Kim half dropping herself onto the couch and Bella choosing a large chair, taking a long time in situating herself before finally curling up.
"I'm happy you're here with me, Arial. It gets kinda lonely sometimes, although there's always plenty of stuff I can do. Is there anything specific you want to do?"
Bella shook her head quickly. She'd just watch the Kim person do whatever and either stay quietly in the shadows, out of notice, or do what was asked of her if Kim needed helped.
"Welll," Kim drawled out with another large yawn, "just let me know if there is or you're free to do whatever you might want to. The kitchen is down that hall," Kim indicated, pointing to the hallway they had come through, "and if you want, I can show you where stuff is, but it really doesn't bother me if you just want to go through it. I was only giving Paul a hard time."
Nodding her understanding, Bella thought that was probably the better idea. She didn't want the Kim woman to feel like she needed help. Bella was more than capable of finding what she might need.
"If it's okay with you, Arial," Kim mumbled, her eyes beginning to close again, "I'm just going to sleep a little bit longer. I don't usually get up this early. Feel free to nap as well."
Bella was starting to feel sleepy again. She didn't know why, but lately it seemed every time she ate, she wanted to take a nap afterwards. Briefly she wondered if her Paul put drugs in the food he gave her then shrugged it off. Nothing ever happened to her when she slept, and her Paul seemed equally happy when she was awake and able to sit by her. If she thought about it long enough, Bella just assumed it was her growing kind of lazy. Once she went back to the Underground, that would disappear and she'd feel like her old self.
Still, Bella waited until she was sure the Kim woman was asleep before she allowed her own eyes to close. That and she wanted to make sure there really wasn't anyone else in the house; an anyone else like the man whose wallet she had tried to steal. When the only thing Bella could hear was the sound of Kim breathing, she started to relax. The chair she was sitting in wasn't the most comfortable and after awhile Bella decided to stretch out on the rugged floor. It was colder down here, nothing she hadn't experienced before, but her clothes were warm enough and Bella fell asleep quickly.
It was the ringing that woke up both girls shortly before ten in the morning. With a groan, Kim reached over the side of the couch, fumbling to locate the phone and answer it.
"Hello?" She questioned softly, her voice thick with sleep.
"What the hell is going on, Kimmy? Are you sick? Where the fuck is Urchin? Is she okay?" Paul fired off in rapid succession, not allowing Kim enough time to process a question before he asked a new one.
"What?" Kim asked, clearing her throat and sitting up to look around the now day lit house. She spotted Arial on the floor, also just waking and sitting up and Kim gave a sheepish wave before returning her attention back to the profanely irritated wolf on the phone.
"What? Did you just ask me what?" Paul seethed. "I asked you 'what' and you haven't even answered me yet. Did something happen? Why are you hesitating in your answers?"
"For the love…calm down, Paul!" Kim snapped, her usually passive nature gone. "It was really freaking early when you dropped Arial off this morning and we both decided to go back to sleep. Your phone call woke us up and I'm still trying to get my brain to function."
"As if that'll ever happen," Paul muttered meanly, his heartbeat slowing down significantly. Kim had no idea how fucking scary it was when a phone rang twelve times before someone picked up. Somewhere around five, his worry kicked in; nine and panic was in full swing; and by the eleventh ring he was swearing up a storm and ready to run home!
"Is there a particular reason you're giving me so much crap, Paul?" Kim asked snidely, still not fully awake and extremely irritated in the way he was making her.
"Yes. No. You still didn't answer me. Is Urchin okay?"
Snorting loudly, Kim debated whether she should tease Paul and make up some ridiculous story. Realizing that she had never heard Paul sound this flustered, she decided to give him a break and ease his grumpiness.
"She's fine. Now that we're both awake, we're gonna have some breakfast and then do something fun."
"Fun like what?" Paul asked, suspicion creeping up quick, fast and in too much of a fucking hurry. "Urchin didn't do so well with movies at Leah's and she can't read, so games are out, too."
"Paul, would you please relax. I have no intention of hurting Arial or making her feel uncomfortable. We'll find something to do we can both enjoy and you can relax your pointy little head and stop thinking everyone is out to make her feel bad."
"Fine! Just stop giving me shit about being concerned, alright? I don't hear you bitching when Jared calls you eight million fucking times a day to check in."
"That's because Jared doesn't call me this early in the morning," Kim retorted. "Now go back to pissing off your coworkers or actually go and do some work and leave us alone. Arial is fine and will continue to be fine."
"Fine!" Paul snapped again, really fucking tired of that word. "You just make sure it stays that way."
Kim held the phone to her ear even after she heard Paul's abrupt cut off indicating he had hung up. Shaking her head in confused wonder, she set down the handset and then turned to eye Arial. She really hoped Paul treated the poor girl with more respect than that when he spoke to her, otherwise she'd help Arial leave the monster that called himself her imprinter.
Now that they were both awake, Kim got up and turned some music on, leading Arial into her kitchen while she chatted about her everyday life and things to do once they were done with breakfast. It was a bit of a challenge in communicating with Arial; the poor girl didn't like to answer most questions. It didn't take long for Kim to realize that things moved much more quickly when Arial was presented with options and could point to what she did or didn't want.
After toasting some frozen waffles –Kim's drenched in syrup and Bella's only smeared with a banana shoved on top and then folded to make a weird looking sandwich—Kim took Arial out back to a shed, showing her the area she was attempting to convert into a work place.
"Ta-da!" Kim exclaimed happily as the two women stood within the damp work area. "My mom taught me how to make lotions and soaps using only natural ingredients. I make them for a lot of the locals and during the summer months we go out to Port Angeles every other weekend to sell them at a farmer's market."
Bella looked around the area carefully, noticing the shelves filled with rows and rows of bottles and baskets of dead looking flowers and leaves. There was also a scary looking table that held huge pots and Bella tried to ignore the dread she felt when looking at it.
"But then," Kim said, still excited and unaware her guest hadn't been paying attention, "Regina said I should sell them online, too. She helped me set up a website and Nadine took some beautiful pictures that could be used as the backdrop. I didn't know what to do with them, but Regina did something to them so that you could click on certain pictures for different products. It's really pretty and I think the waterfall picture is my favorite. That's what you click on to get to the soaps and shampoos."
Bella continued to nod and attempt to smile like she was just as excited as the Kim woman was. All of it sounded like a lot of work and Bella didn't know how she'd be able to help with any of it. She really hoped Kim wouldn't ask her to do something with those scary pots.
"So that's what I do most of the day. Jared gets off early on Mondays and Thursdays and if we get any online orders, we mail them out on those days," Kim continued to ramble.
Bella was okay with the constant flow of words. After awhile it became a form of pleasant background noise, allowing Bella to relax and feel more comfortable around her. She followed Kim back out of the shed and to the house, only picking up certain words; something about seasonal flowers and strategies.
"Leah teased me forever about the name I finally decided to use, but I thought it was endearing and Jared even blushed and stammered when I told him," Kim said, closing the back door as they walked into the house. Bella continued to follow Kim to another room where a table had piles of papers and markers on it.
"It's not fancy but it makes its point." Grabbing a large brightly colored sheet of paper, Kim held it up for Bella's inspection. "The product line is called JK Designs," she said, pointing to each carefully drawn symbol. "And I think it's enough on its own, just the words, but Nadine said I needed a logo."
Sighing dejectedly, Kim dropped the design and sat down at the table, pulling out the chair next to her and indicating Bella should sit as well.
"I have spent the last month and a half scribbling out pictures, but I don't really like any of them and none of them look good with the JK script. Tell me what you think," Kim asked as she grabbed several notebooks, pushing them towards Bella with a look of hopefulness.
With trembling fingers, Bella peeled open the cover of the first book, scanning each picture as she turned the pages. Odd looking animals and plants decorated each one, some drawn in pencil or pen, others in markers. None of them were bad and Bella wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Closing it she looked up hesitantly at Kim.
"Awful, right?" Kim asked, pulling the book aside before pushing another one to Bella. "I mean, how hard could it be? Then I decided that I couldn't exactly have a picture of a daisy on every product. Who wants a pine scented lotion with daisies on it? So I tried this." Flipping open the cover, Kim tapped her finger against the page.
Bella peered down at more pictures, this time showing weird clusters of circles or squares and lots of other shapes she couldn't name. The more pages she turned, the stranger the shapes became; some wrapped around the words Kim had told her were JK Designs and others without. The last picture in the book didn't look anything like the shapes from earlier or even like the animals from before. If Bella had to name it, though, she'd say it might be a tree, or maybe a log since it didn't have any leaves.
Kim leaned over to see what held Arial's attention for so long. "Oh, that. Jared was screwing around and being stupid. I told him not to doodle in my notebook, but he had already started it before I could get it away from him." Closing the book, Kim pulled it back towards her, sighing again.
"None of them were very good, huh?" She asked, not looking directly at Bella. "I think I'll just forget about it for now."
Tapping Kim on the arm, Bella tried to get the woman's attention. She knew she couldn't write and had no intention of doing so, but if she could point to things and have Kim write them, Bella felt like she could help.
When the Kim woman did look up, she smiled at Bella. "It's okay. I figured if we're going to be friends and neighbors, I'd let you see what I do."
This time Bella was the one to frown while shaking her head. She opened the notebook back up to the picture of the log and then half stood up to reach over Kim and grab the first design she had been shown. It took a lot of head shaking, nodding, pointing and movement for Bella to convey what Kim needed to do. The hours swept by quickly, neither one realizing the sun was sinking and that they had skipped lunch until Bella's stomach growled loudly. Loud enough that it actually scared her and her face went white.
Kim just giggled. "Oh, jeez, Arial, I completely lost track of the time." Stretching upwards, Kim turned around to glance at a clock. "It's four thirty. Paul won't be here for another hour or so. Let's go find something to munch on."
Still unsure, Bella looked around to find out what had sounded so mean. She watched Kim leave the room, but was hesitant to follow. What if the Kim woman hadn't heard the noise and some monster was waiting for her? Or maybe it was her bear friend? She wasn't strong enough to actually fight off the bear if it was him, but she might be able to distract him. With that thought in mind, Bella went to go find the Kim woman.
No scary creatures, no large bear things, not even someone other than Kim was in the kitchen when Bella ducked and weaved her way into the room. The Kim woman still didn't notice that anything might be wrong and as she talked while pouring a bowl of crackers and pulling out slices of cheese, Bella decided she must have imagined the scary growly noise.
She sat at the small dining table with Kim, managing to pocket a few of the crackers. She wanted to take some of the cheese as well, but knew it wouldn't last very long. She was going to have to figure out how to save more things, although if she was given food stuffs like the waffles, she wouldn't have a chance.
Kim led Bella back to the living room, telling her to sit down while she went to grab something. The Kim woman came back carrying one of the books she had been drawing in then sat down and turned the TV on. Eventually, Bella relaxed in her seat, tiredness creeping up on her as cartoons played and Kim giggled occasionally at the show playing while she continued to draw. The last thing Bella heard before succumbing to sleep again was the Kim woman laughing quietly as a cartoon bird and cat played tricks on each other.
Paul checked his cell again for the millionth fucking time to make sure he hadn't missed any important calls. Snorting to himself as he shoved it back in his pocket, Paul realized that was a big fat fucking lie. As if he'd give a monkey's ass if some shit needed to get ahold of him. The only way he would actually answer his phone on the job was if Kim was calling and even then, he'd probably be running to the jeep before he could answer.
All damn morning he had been plagued with shitty guilt for not getting Urchin her coffee. Coffee for fuck's sake! Like any damn imprint had suddenly keeled over and died because they hadn't had morning caffeine, Paul mentally scoffed. The entire thing was crazy. Beyond crazy. Most definitely borderline jet streaming into psychotic land. No way in hell should any wolf feel this shitty over forgetting to supply a quasi-addictive substance to his girl. It just wasn't done!
And yet, here he was, pissing and moaning and feeling shittier by the hour. What a pansy assed motherfucker he had been to cave and call earlier this morning to check up. After that brief bit of pussyness, Paul had gone back to work cussing and screaming with the rest of them as tools were dropped, people slacked off and shit seemed to go in a backwards motion.
Thank fuck the closer he got to La Push, the lighter he started to feel. Real fucking soon, he'd see his girl, know she was fine and be able to breathe like any normal, non-whipped, self-respecting bastard. Paul was almost fully convinced of that as he walked up the Cameron's walkway and knocked on the door. Kim answering the door with her finger pressed to her lips erased all that shit within a blink.
"What's wrong?" Paul hissed as he pushed the door open wide to allow him entrance.
"Nothing is wrong; Arial is asleep and I didn't know if you wanted to wake her up or not," Kim answered, quietly shutting the door to hurry after Paul.
"It's late and you guys slept until noon. Is she sick?" Paul sniffed the air with his wolf, knowing that wouldn't do any fucking good, but needing the wolf to participate anyways.
"It was more like ten and no, she isn't sick. She's just sleeping, doofus," Kim defended herself.
Crouching in front of the chair, Paul blocked out Kim's rantings, entirely focused on his girl. "Urchin? Hey Urchin, time to wake up and go home," he cajoled softly. It didn't take much, Urchin's eyes popping open quickly to stare at him in confusion.
"Hey," he said, unable to stop himself from reaching out for her. She seemed to be okay and before Paul's hands could lock together, Urchin wrapped herself around him to be picked up.
"Feel better?" Kim asked sarcastically to Paul's backside as he stood up to full height.
"As a matter of fact, I do, Chatty Kimmy," Paul replied, not giving a shit what she thought about his actions. His wolf went on giddy overdrive, still sniffing the air, but this time having its mate to scent over repeatedly.
Kim snorted in disbelief. "Well, as long as you're done being a snot, are you just going to leave?"
"Yeah. Why? Is there something else I need to do?" Paul asked, nearly letting out a sissy ass cooing noise when his urchin laid her head on his shoulder.
Fuck, he could think of a million of things he needed to do, none of which involved being at Kim's house and all of which included his girl. He didn't even notice that he started towards the front door with Kim trailing behind.
"As much as I don't miss you, Jared does. I thought you were guys were best buds?"
Paul started to scowl, his steps faltering as he stopped and turned around to face Kim who almost ran into him. "We don't have chick bits, we don't need to talk on an hourly basis."
"And trust me, I know all of this," Kim said, her hands reflexively coming to rest on her hips as she took a few steps away from Paul. "I mean, I'm really happy you aren't here to talk shit and give Jared bad ideas and crap, but you guys are still friends and you've been avoiding him."
"Busy," Paul barked out, slightly lifting his urchin upwards to show what he had been busy with.
"Shut up," Kim demanded, irritated that Paul would try to make excuses. "It would take you twenty seconds to call Jared. Both of you can burp and fart into the phone or whatever it is you do to show bonding and then be done."
"Right," agreed Paul with a wicked grin. "I'll see if I can stock up tonight on pork and beans and beer, so that Jared's fantasy phone call can come true. Anything else, my mistress?"
The mini argument had been disruptive enough for Bella to fully wake up and she lifted her head from Paul's shoulder to try and figure out what was going on and where she was. The sudden hand trying to delicately push her head back down scared her and Bella began to fight the movement.
"Easy there, Urchin," Paul warned her, deciding now was the time to give Kim the shittiest of all looks for ruining his good fortune. Urchin's movements froze and he sighed, anger at Kim being swallowed up by his concern for Urchin and whether or not this was about to become a zombie situation.
"Jeez, put her down, Paul," Kim said, rolling her eyes at what appeared to be an obvious solution.
However, Paul fucking knew if he tried to set Urchin down, she'd stand there like a straw, just waiting to be bent by whoever pushed first. His dumb ass hadn't been thinking about her comfort -but his- when he had tried to keep her resting on his shoulder and in the span of less than eight seconds shit had gone FUBAR to the tenth degree. Paul didn't have to rationalize his steps as he resumed walking towards the door, not even bothering to snark back at Kim and whatever shit she felt she was right about.
His movements quick and hurried, he secured Urchin inside the Jeep, damn near body checking into Kim when she popped up behind him as he slammed the door and turned to go.
"Jesus fuck, Kim," Paul sniped, backing into the closed Jeep door, "didn't we have our cuddly goodbye already? Shit!"
"Shut up, Paul. I want to know if you're really going to call Jared. This is important."
"Yes, fine, whatever. I'll get around to it, but right now is not a good time." With a patronizing pat to her head, Paul moved around the vehicle to get inside and away from this fuck-tarded conversation Kimmy was on.
Urchin was wide awake as he started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. She seemed to have zapped herself out of the freaky shit trance Paul hated. He hoped she'd just forget about what happened –whatever it was—and be herself tonight.
For the first time in his life, Paul thought that he might actually need to be on the receiving end of some attention from his imprint. Nothing over the top, he wasn't a complete 'tard licker. But he did feel weird, like he was partially head fucked or something, panicking over stupid shit, his chest feeling tight and uncomfortable like a goddamn alien was about to burst out any second.
Fuck, he spent too much damn time watching late night AMC.
And even though he could predict exactly what the guys would say, that he was acting like such a pussy that he might as well exchange his balls for one and call himself a girl, Paul was beginning to enjoy the immense comfort his body experienced any time a small, waifish urchin was near him.