I guess I was pretty lucky, in a few ways when it came to my imprint. For starters, Claire was only two. Which meant that I had a lot of time with her. Her age was also something that made me worry for the first couple of days after I'd imprinted, because how was an almost-seventeen-year-old guy supposed to find a good enough reason to mind a two-year-old day after day?

Claire's parents lived on the Makah reservation, but they were hardly ever around. According to Sam, they were real workaholics. Her mom was a receptionist for some hotel in Port Angeles, and she worked most days. Her father worked high up for a business mainly run through Seattle, but occasionally he would travel to other towns across the country. It wasn't rare for him to spend most nights of the week staying in Seattle, and for more long-distance trips he could leave for a week or longer at a time. Claire spent a lot of time with her cousin, Mikayla, and her aunt and uncle, who had been at Emily's house the day I'd imprinted. Sam and Emily figured it out easily enough. Emily spent most of her days at home by herself while Sam went to work or ran with the rest of us, and it was all too simple for her to request more time with Claire - Mikayla's parents had no problem with it whatsoever, seeing as their daughter was now at school and they'd been taking care of Claire by herself. They were more than happy to allow her to spend more time with her other aunt.

And I would show up at Emily's house as soon as I was free and take her to spend the day with me. Her parents didn't exactly know their daughter was spending almost all of her time away from her aunt and uncle's house, but I wasn't taking her on dangerous adventures or anything, so there was really no problem. I was going to put her first in every way, and keep the closest eye on her. She was safer with me than anyone else in the world. Earth's best babysitter; that was me.

The first couple of days without her had been absolute hell. I'd panicked almost the entire time, telling myself there was no way I'd be able to get any time with her. Her parents would never allow it. I wasn't going to be able to find the time. My mom was going to go off at me. Everything else I could have worried about. Not to mention I'd never dealt with anyone so young before.

And then, at long last, I'd gotten a call early Wednesday morning, and I'd reached out for the phone without opening my eyes. I groaned into my pillow as I answered the call and held it up to my ear.

"Yeah?"

"Quil?"

I dont think I'd ever sat up quicker in my life. "Sam?"

He chuckled on the other end of the phone. Emily's home by herself today, and she asked if Claire would like to come over and spend the day baking with her. Did you want to visit sometime?"

"When is she getting there?"

"Have a shower and come over. She should be here in an hour or so."

An hour. An hour and I would see her again. An hour and I would be able to spend the entire day with my imprint.

An hour was such a long time to wait.

I jumped out of bed immediately and ran to the bathroom. I really did try to pace myself while I was getting ready, but it wasn't working too well. I rushed through my shower, threw on the first clothes I grabbed and skipped breakfast, not even wishing my mom a good day on the way out. I was in the car before I even realised, and parked out the front of Sam and Emily's in record time. Sam's car was still there - he must not be working yet. I couldn't help running to the door. It had only just been half an hour since Sam's phone call. I didn't really have a hope that she would be there yet, but why not be waiting for her anyway?

Emily answered the door with a strange look on her face. Almost...wary? My smiled faltered as I looked at her, and then Sam appeared behind her and greeted me warmly. I could tell there was something behind his warm welcome, and Emily looked away from me immediately and moved to let me into the little house.

"You were quick,"

"Bit anxious," I murmured, crossing to the kitchen and grabbing an apple. I bit into it quickly, my eyes still on Emily, who had followed behind us silently and started digging through the fridge. Sam watched her silently, a sad expression on his face. I looked between the two of them slowly, frowning at Sam. "Is something wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong, Quil,"

Emily shut the fridge door a little harder than necessary, throwing him a hard look before quickly turning and walking to the stove, eggs and bacon in her arms.

"Emily," he sighed and put his face in his hands, rubbing his brows like he had a headache or something.

"What is it?" I felt like I was beginning to catch on now.

Emily's dark head of hair shook from side to side, so I turned to Sam, who looked really bothered by something. "Emily's having a...a hard time accepting your situation."

"What? Why?"

He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "It's the first imprint we've had...like yours. She's just having a bit of trouble looking past the way our imprint is. And...and Jared and Kim's."

I watched him for what seemed like a long time, super confused. "What?" I asked, trying to understand what he'd said. Why were they bringing their imprint into this? "What?!" my voice rose as I realized what Sam was saying. "No! No, no, no, no," I was shaking my head, and Emily turned around, frowning a bit. "There is no way in the world - Emily," I scoffed, disgusted. "Do you really think so little of me? She's two years old!"

"Yes, Quil," Emily repeated after me. "She's two years old! She hasn't even learned how to speak yet! And you think she's yours alread," she shook her head at me. "I know you don't get to decide who you choose, but don't you think you could wait a few years before you start any of this stuff? She's a little girl. She's supposed to be around her family!"

"She's supposed to be around her family," Sam repeated sarcastically. "Maybe that's exactly why this happened," his voice was really gentle now. "Emily, I don't know how many times you've worried for that little girl. You've talked so many times about how your brother and his wife are concentrating too hard on their careers and not spending the right amount of time with her. Maybe Quil is exactly what she needs. She's never going to find anyone who will know how to provide for her like an imprint."

Emily seemed to be at a loss for words for a minute. Finally, she looked at me and pointed the spatula she was holding in my direction. "She's only two years old. She has her entire life ahead of her. I'm going to tell you right now, just let her live it how she wants to. Don't sway her into anything she doesn't want to do. She'll be too young for a long time to be able to stand up for herself, and you're going to have to teach her that's okay. You're going to have to want that."

Sam suddenly laughed, and we both looked at him, shocked.

"What?" Emily's hand fell back down to her side and she frowned at her fiancé in confusion. Sam crossed the little kitchen to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing her temple.

"There isn't a hope in hell that Quil would want anything Claire wouldn't. He's her life-long slave."

"That's nice," Emily snorted.

"Hey," he hoisted her up in his arms and kissed down the right side of her face. "I don't half-mind being your slave."

And then they went into super-gross, gooey mode and I dazed out and focused on the trees out the window instead.

Half an hour went by. She was late. My leg bounced nervously under the table, breakfast shaking as we tried to eat like there was an earthquake. Emily was more quiet than usual, but she didn't seem as bothered by before. I tried to see it through her eyes...but I didn't have a niece, and even if I did, I don't think I would have minded someone imprinting on her. I wasn't doing anything wrong. I just wanted to give her the world.

A car rolled to a stop in front of the little house and Sam and I froze, staring at each other from across the table. I tried to remember how to swallow, but I hadn't chewed my toast quite enough and it was painful as it slid down my throat. Sam didn't look bothered at all. He smiled at me easily and stood from the table, leaving the kitchen to open the front door.

"Morning," I heard him call across the yard.

"Hi, Sam. Thanks so much for minding her today,"

"Not at all," I heard him answer casually. "Emily enjoys her company. I don't like her being here by herself all day, every day."

The other voice - Claire's mom - reached Sam then, and I realized I was holding my breath. "I think everything she'll need for the day is in this bag...okay," there was a shuffle as they traded what they were holding. "I should be home around seven, but I'll let you know if anything changes. Be good," I heard a kissing noise. "I'll see you when I get home from work, okay?" the last part was said in a higher register. To Claire.

"Have a good day at work, Marylin,"

There was a very long moment before I heard the door close and Sam began walking back toward the kitchen. Emily stood from the table and met him in the door way, but I'd already frozen.

The tiny girl was held carefully in his arms, her big dark eyes watching her aunt as Emily reached out for her and took her into her own arms, kissing the top of her head. And then, suddenly, she turned her head and stared straight at me. I couldn't look away, and it seemed she was having trouble with that, too. I felt the anxiety leave me immediately. Everything was fine. It would all be fine.

"How's my girl?" Emily asked lovingly. "Claire?"

The toddler raised her little hand and pointed across the room at me. "There!"

Emily sighed and seemed to hold her tighter as she watched me silently. "That's Quil,"

"Go der!" Claire insisted, louder.

I still didn't look away from her when Sam started chuckling. "Emily, you'd better do what she says. We've all experienced Claire's temper tantrums."

Well, I hadn't. But I wanted to. I wanted to see her scream and laugh and cry and I wanted her to make my life as miserable as possible and give me the best life anyone ever had.

Emily obediently sat back at her seat at the table, and it seemed to calm Claire down a bit. I smiled down at her from the seat beside her and she grinned back at me, her pouty lips parting to show me an adorable set of gapped baby teeth.

"Hi, Claire,"

"Hello," she sang back at me. She raised her hand to wave, as though she'd been taught a trick to go with the word. I waved back, wondering when I'd last blinked.

I finally tore my eyes away from her to look at Emily, who was watching us with interest. "Can I...can I hold her?"

Emily sighed and looked at her fiancé, who nodded easily. "Okay," she finally loosened her arms and held her toward me.

My hands were shaking as I leaned forward to take the little girl, pulling her into my arms safely. She sat completely still, staring back up at me as I watched her. Her eyes were almost black, and so, so beautiful. Her little hand reached out to hold onto the front of my shirt, and I lowered my chin to rest on the top of her head, protecting her completely from the rest of the world. She was safe. No one was ever going to hurt her.

I felt her other hand reach out to pat my arm assuringly. "Lub yew,"

I couldn't help but laugh and hold her tighter. She knew. She was two years old, had no idea about my world, but she knew. How many times had people said children were so perceptive? "Love you,"