Lucy woke up the next morning in her own bed. She wiped her eyes and looked around the room until she found Paul sitting on her desk chair, which looked much smaller than it actually was under him. Her last memory was of being carried into Sam and Emily's last night. Paul was looking rather uncomfortable in his chair.
"Is everything ok? Is Bella-" Lucy's voice was rough from sleep as Paul cut her off.
"Yes your sister is in her room. The leader of the leeches had a meeting with Sam last night." Paul's face looked like a mixture of sadness and anger, "The treaty line is back as it was before. The leeches and the pack will switch off nights that we patrol." Lucy didn't respond but merely counted to ten on her fingers like she often did when things got to supernatural for her. "Why are you doing that? You do that a lot."
"No matter how many vampires are after my sister or how many shape shifters have to watch our backs I always have ten fingers. It keeps me sane." She laughed a sad laugh and pulled the blanket off of herself. She stepped closer to Paul but he shot back in his seat. "Is something wrong?"
"You smell like them," He spit through his teeth, "It's hard for me to be in control when I smell them. Especially on you."
Sure enough Lucy could see the slight tremble of his body and how his hands gripped onto the arm rests on the chair. She nodded and grabbed a towel before exiting the room and running a shower. The hot water felt good. It reminded her or Paul's warmth. She took her time before turning off the water and changing into new clothes. When she entered the room Paul was on her bed, looking through her photo album.
"Is this your mom?" He asked her when she sat down. He pointed to a photo of Lucy, Bella, and Renee at her grandmother's birthday a few years ago. Lucy nodded and flipped to the next page where a photo of her and Jacob as children rested. In the photo they were smiling, sitting at a bonfire on Billy's lap. They continued flipping through photos, Paul asking brief questions about the setting and Lucy answering with a lengthy story. When they approached the more recent ones, Lucy tried to stop him before turning another page. She wasn't quick enough. The photo showed Lucy and Alice Cullen at the top of the Cullen's stairs at Bella's birthday. Two seconds after the flash of the photo Lucy would stumble down the stairs and cut her arm. She would be thrown across the room before Carlisle could usher everyone out and she would be left with the spider web of scar her arm now held. "Why do you still have this?"
"To remind me that they're dangerous." Her answer was simple and she showed the scars to Paul carefully, not wanting to trigger his anger. "I fell down the stairs and started bleeding. I got thrown across the room into a table by Jasper. Carlisle patched me up."
Lucy was prepared for Paul to shake violently and she moved across the room, watching him until he calmed down. When he gave the ok to come forward she did so slowly, sitting down next to him and resting her arm in his outstretched hands. Ever so gently he traced the scars with his fingers. They stayed silent as he did so, which lasted over an hour. Occasionally he would begin to shake and Lucy would tense up but quicker each time he would calm down until he dropped her arm and rested his head on her shoulder. While Lucy and Paul were always physically aware of each other they didn't have many physical moments. It was usually limited to hugs or the occasional hand on the knee under the careful eyes of Jacob and Sam. Everyone was quick to remind them of their age difference.
"Emily's going to throw a party for you." Paul told her at the kitchen table. Charlie was at work and Bella was still upstairs. Lucy looked up from her cereal bowl with a look of question on her face, "Ya know for your birthday. It's in twelve days."
"You've been counting the days till my birthday?" She asked him.
"Yeah. It's an important day. I finally get to be with you."
"You do know I'm not gonna fuck you as soon as the clock strikes midnight on my birthday, right?" She saw his face and put her head in her hands, "Paul we've known each other a month, even if I am your imprint that's not enough time. All the other boys had to wait at least two months. I'm totally kidding by the way."
"None of the other guys, except for Quil, had to wait." Paul's tone reminded her of a sad toddler. "The longest any of them waited was two weeks and that was Sam and Emily. Even Leah and Embry have already done it."
"Well I'm not the other imprints. Deal with it." She laughed and continued eating her food as Paul mumbled into his bowl. "If it's bothering you so much why don't you go fuck some other girl?"
"You know I can't do that."
"Then you gotta wait." With a smirk Lucy cleared her dish and went upstairs to change.