Chapter Nineteen

Max's POV

I was just getting Esperanza to sleep when Alice came into the nursery, jumping around like crazy, and woke my niece up.

"Thanks a lot, Alice." I muttered sourly at the pixie as Hope began to cry.

Though she was two and technically a toddler, she needed a lot of sleep to keep her energized so she slept almost as much as a newborn. She had been on a breathing machine until almost her first birthday due to being born extremely premature, but has since never had to use it. Ella's daughter is now healthy other than the needing to sleep a lot thing. That's saying a lot considering how Carlisle predicted she would need help living her whole life.

"Sorry, sorry." The psychic said with a grin. "I just saw the most wonderful thing and I thought you'd want to know first."

"What is it?" I asked, gently rocking Esperanza back and forth to calm her down.

Collin was out on official Pack duties so that left me with taking care of was the one time of the day, Nap Time, that I wished Tobias was here. Collin had set up rules for the imprinter of his daughter and this was one of them. He wanted Hope to be able to have time with family before she got too big to want them anymore.

"Nick is coming home." Alice said happily. "And from what I can see, he has other experiments with him."

"You mean he really did it?" I asked in disbelief. "He really took out the last of the School?"

Though it had been my mission to complete, I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it as soon as I got pregnant with Arian. I was a mother now, despite how great it would feel to kick butt again. Luckily, Fang's twin had no objections to taking over my role.

Still, this was shocking news. Most of us had assumed that he had lost interest or had been captured by one of the School's facilities when he didn't return within the first eight months. Two years was a long time to wait.

"Apparently he did." Alice said with a shrug. "How should I know? I can only partially see experiments to begin with, usually Annie handles those."

"Where is she, anyways?" I asked mostly to myself as I rocked Hope back to sleep again.

"Oh, Fang took Annie and AJ to La Push for the day." Alice informed me. "I thought he would have mentioned this to you?"

"Yeah, that's right." I said, remembering what my husband had said earlier. Most of the Flock were heading down there for a bonfire later tonight but my children had been in need of seeing their imprinters so Fang took them ahead.

"Well, I'm headed to Crew Headquarters to let them know that Nick and a few more experiments are coming here soon. Since our house is already full, I think it'd be better for them to live there as well." Alice said with a grin.

"Oooh, that gives me an idea for a new wing of that house. I'm thinking indoor pool..." She said to herself as she left the room.

I laid Esperanza back in her crib as soon as her breathing evened out. I went in search of my nephew so that I could get him ready for the bonfire as well. By time I tricked Alejandro into putting shoes on, Hope would be done from her nap.

I found Alex in the kitchen eating a bowl of soup with Emma Black. I smiled at the two who had become sort of siblings since Ella's death. The half vampire was fully grown as of a month ago, but she still had a sort of innocence about her that I admired. She was responsible, though somewhat of a loner, so she got stuck with helping care for the twins.

However, Hope's twin was no longer able to pass as her twin anymore. Alex was now physically five due to his werewolf abilities and would continue to grow rapidly until he hit puberty, or so Carlisle predicts at least.

"Mornin' Max." Little Alejandro said with a grin, soup slopping down the side of his face.

"Goodmorning, Alex." I said, then gestured to Emma. "Morning, Em."

"Did you hear what Alice has been buzzing about all morning?" Emma asked with a heart stopping smile. "Nick is coming back! He did it!"

"I know, she just told me a minute ago." I said, trying to wipe Alex's face off but he squirmed out of my way.

"You don't think that he brought back a, um, imprint, do you?" Emma asked nervously.

I had to laugh at that one. Even though she was the only one of her siblings other than Bex that wasn't part werewolf, she too was worried about imprints? This didn't make any sense.

"I'm sure you'll find a guy on your own. Don't worry about it, Emma." I said, finally getting the glop off of Alex's face and smirking in victory.

Emma looked down at the table with a blush on her pale cheeks, her straight bronze hair falling in front of her face in an attempt to hide it. "No, I, uh, mean for Nick." She said quietly. "You don't think he found his imprint, do you?"

"What are you talking about? Nick is an Avian, we don't have imprints." I said blankly, not sure why she cared in the first place. He was twenty-five and she was technically only seven; he was way too old for her and I knew Jacob wouldn't approve of his daughter's crush.

"How long have you liked him?" I asked bluntly, knowing there was no way around it at this point. She knew that I knew anyways, might as well help her sort through her feelings. (Yeah, I know, I'm one to talk).

"Since he left." Emma confessed softly, not meeting my eyes.

"I know how you feel." I said honestly. "I didn't know Fang was the one for me until we split the Flock up over my brother all those years ago. I was young then like you were young two years ago, but I couldn't help it just like I know you can't help it."

"But what if he changed or I changed so much that he doesn't even want to be my friend?" Emma asked desperately. "I've gone without him for too long now to not have him at all."

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end." I said, trying to make her feel better. "If not with him than with some other boy." I added since I didn't know if Nick even liked her at all.

"Thanks Max, that really helped." Emma said with a small smile. "I gotta go get ready for the bonfire, see you guys there."

AN: Okay, so this can either go two ways; 1) Emma can be the one that Nick likes and they end up happy or 2) Nick can like Serenity, Two-Two, or Annie like people guessed and I'll work it out like that. Your choice so please review because I really like hearing your guys' opinions. Thanks, and know that this could seriously change things from here on out. :)