Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but if I did there would be a lot more werewolves and a lot fewer vampires.

Rachel:

This is going to be fun, I thought to myself. Probably the highlight of my weekend, if not my summer. My plan was fully formulated. Now all I had to do was wait for Paul to come over. I felt devious as I sat in front of the TV with Dad and Jake.

When I emerged from my room, Jake tried to force me to ask him my questions. I informed him that I was just going to wait to ask Paul. Jake's disappointed look when I mentioned Paul only solidified my previous theory. Jake didn't want me hanging out with Paul. Paul was taking advantage of me. And I was going to teach him why that was not acceptable.

I was getting impatient. It was after 10. Paul had been gone for 9 hours. How much sleep did he need? I sighed loudly. My plan wasn't going to be as much fun if I had to fight to stay awake through it.

"How much longer do you think he's going to be?" I asked Jake with obvious annoyance in my voice.

He seemed happy that I was finally asking him something, as trivial as this question might be. "Don't worry. As soon as he's awake, he'll be over," he said with disdain. Jake really didn't like Paul, which only spurred me on more. Maybe Jake would get some gratification out of this too. I smiled to myself as I thought of putting on my show in front of Jake. I shivered with excitement. This was going to be so awesome I could barely stand it.

At eleven o'clock, my dad excused himself to go to bed. After a few minutes there was a quick knock on the door and Paul let himself in. I smiled at him. It was an essential part of my plan, keeping him calm and relaxed for as long as possible. Jake groaned, which helped my intention even better.

I stood up to greet him with a hug. "How was your nap?"

"The best one I've ever had," he replied with a smile, leaving his arms wrapped around me.

"Why is that?" I asked, genuinely curious.

He glanced at Jake quickly before he answered. "Because I dreamt about you."

Man, he was really laying it on thick. Jake made a gagging noise and got up from the couch. "I'll leave you two alone," he said, heading toward his room. He emphasized the word 'alone' but I was sure he'd be eavesdropping. What were little brothers for, after all? I was sad he wasn't going to get to see the show I was going to put on, but it helped my stage fright a little bit. Plus, I'd tell him all about it in the morning.

As soon as Jake was in his room, we sat on the couch, and he put his arm around me. I had to admit, I really liked how warm he was. He grabbed the remote and shut the TV off, turning his body toward me.

"How's it sinking in?" he asked me. He grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. I smiled at him. He seemed so genuine.

"Ok, I think. I'm not running away screaming, so that's good right?"

He laughed. "Yeah, that's progress. Actually I think you might be the first imprint to get a handle on it on the first day. I guess I got pretty lucky with you," he smiled at me and scooted in closer. He thought he was going to get even luckier, the douchebag.

I smiled as I leaned closer to him and went in for the kill. "I love you Paul," I said before touching my lips to his stunned face. I thought his eyes were going to bug out of his head. I'd freaked him out already.

"Really?" he asked incredulously.

This is too easy, I thought. "Well, actually, I think it might be something deeper than love. All I know for sure is that I plan to spend the rest of my life with you. We'll get married. We'll have babies. We'll never be apart. Did I ever mention I want 6 children? Because I do. And I want to get married as soon as possible. Preferably before the summer is over. Also, do you know of any houses for sale? We should start looking. Make sure there's room for a nursery because I want to start our family as soon as possible. And you get paid well for being in the pack right? I hope so because I really want to be a housewife. That'll work out right?" I looked at him expectantly, examining the look of shock on his face. My plan had worked. I completely freaked him out. Honestly I was surprised he wasn't out the front door yet, running as far away from the clingy psycho as possible. My mouth spread into a huge smile as he thought all of this over, a saddened expression forming on his face.

His reaction was anything but what I expected. "Why are you lying to me?" he asked me, with obvious hurt in his voice.

"What?" I asked, stunned.

"I know you're lying. Like I told you, I want to make you happy. And if that's what you really wanted, then I would want those things too. But I don't want to marry you. And I don't want to have children." I looked at him with pure shock in my eyes. "At least not yet," he qualified. "So it's obvious that you don't really want those things. So why did you lie and tell me you did?"

I looked down at the floor, trying to figure out what had just happened. He'd suddenly turned me into the liar when he was the one who went around 'imprinting' on people just to get in their pants. In the grand scheme of things I'd say what he does is worse. And yet I felt like I had betrayed him. I wanted to look up at him, but I kept my gaze down. He didn't deserve what I had just done to him. No one deserved to have their emotions toyed with, no matter the original intention.

He pulled my chin up to meet his gaze, and I saw the pain in his eyes. "Please, answer me," he implored in a whisper.

I sighed and knew I had to answer. I bit my lip and started explaining. "I wanted to freak you out a little bit. Just enough so that you would know it's not ok to play with someone's emotions like you did to me. But now I see that I tried to do the same thing to you, so I'm just as guilty." I expected him to 'forgive' me then restart his conquest but I was surprised again.

"When did I ever play with your emotions?" he asked with irritation.

Now I was the one getting irritated. "Umm, today, when you said you imprinted on me. I know you only said that to try to get in my pants. And if I were another girl it probably would have worked. So I had to take a stand for girls everywhere."

His hands started shaking. I knew what that meant. He was about to phase. I jumped off the couch and opened the door, standing behind it as I waited for him to run outside. I heard footsteps coming toward me and was amazed to see Paul's arm reach out and pull the door back from me.

He was livid. "How dare you think I would use that as a line? Imprinting isn't a joke. And I would never phase when you were around. It's horrible that you would think I could lose control like that!" He grabbed me roughly, wrapping his hands around my upper arms, and looked me straight in the eye. "I will never hurt you," he growled.

I let all of this sink in. I couldn't believe it. "Imprinting is real?" I asked, eyes wide.

He rolled his head back in exasperation. "Yes! I would never lie about something like that. And just so you know, I don't lie to girls in general. It's just not my style."

I looked down again. I really had him pegged wrong. But how could imprinting be real? It seemed more like something that belonged in a book, rather than in real life. Then I also remembered that werewolves weren't supposed to exist either. That made me feel even worse.

I'd always known I was a 'see it to believe it' kind of person but I never realized I would take it this far. He told me the truth about being a wolf, and I didn't believe him. So he showed me. He told me the truth about imprinting, and I didn't believe him. Except he had no way to show me. There's no way to prove you're in love with some, except through time, which I hadn't given him.

There was only one way for me to get a real answer right now. I had to ask someone who had no incentive to lie. I wriggled out of Paul's grasp and walked back to Jake's room.

I threw open the door and found him just laning on his bed, no doubt moving quickly away from the door after eavesdropping. He smirked at Paul as he followed me through the door.

"Need something?" Jake asked me, keeping his eyes on Paul.

"Imprinting. Is it real? Yes or no?" I asked concisely. I didn't want to hear Jake's thoughts on the matter. I just wanted to know if Paul was telling the truth.

Jake let out a breath, and I knew he didn't want to answer. I braced myself, but I still wasn't prepared for his answer. "Yes, Rach. It's real."

I felt my knees give out as I started falling to the floor, fainting for a split second. Paul caught me easily, and Jake jumped off the bed to help. Paul gave him a dirty look, and Jake backed off as Paul scooped me into his arms and carried me into my room.

He laid me gently on my bed before sitting next to me, staring at the wall. This was going to be hard. I sat up and put a hand on his back. "Paul, I'm so sorry."

He just kept staring at the wall. I swung my legs off the bed so I was sitting next to him, and I took his hand in mine, observing the size difference between our hands. He locked his fingers around mine and started rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. I rested my head on his shoulder while he stared, waiting for him to say something.

I didn't understand why I was feeling this way at all. Fifteen minutes ago I hated Paul and hoped he ran from my house crying. Now all I wanted to do was keep him here with me. I hoped he wasn't trying to find the words to tell me he was leaving. I didn't think I would be able to stand that. We needed to work though this now. I decided to take the reins.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, turning my head up to look at him.

He finally tore his eyes away from the wall and smiled weakly. "You," he said, but not with the normal smile that followed. I'd really hurt him.

"God, Paul. I'm so sorry. I'm not good at this. Really, I'm not. I don't know how to respond when a normal guy likes me."

He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I have this theory that I only attract guys that are horrible for me. So as a general rule, if they like me, there's something wrong with them. That's why I don't date," I explained.

He moved a hand to the side of my face, brushing the hair out of my eyes. "Well, there's your first problem. I'm not horrible for you. In fact, some would argue I'm perfect for you. That's what imprinting means." He stroked my cheek and touched his nose to mine. "And just so you know. When you said that you loved me earlier, you meant it."

"I know," I replied. "Actually, I knew I loved you this afternoon. I just forgot for a few hours." I leaned in to kiss him but he pulled away.

"Hmm, how can I keep you from forgetting again?" He moved a finger to his chin and tapped as if in deep thought. So he was going to play games now? I wasn't going to let this go on very long.

"Like this," I said with a whisper, pulling his arm down and attacking his lips. He chuckled and kissed me back, turning his body to me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He pulled me onto his lap as he scooted back on the bed so he could lean against the head board.

I laid, cradled in his arms long after the kiss was broken. I stared up at his face while he stared down at mine. I felt my eyes getting heavy, but I wasn't ready to sleep yet. I didn't want to sleep ever again if that meant Paul was going to be away from me. Despite my best efforts, a yawn snuck through and Paul's eyes narrowed.

"Why did you tell me you were tired?" he accused.

I moved my hand up to rest on his cheek. "I didn't want you to leave."

He leaned forward and placed me on the bed, facing the window. He stood up, kissed me on the cheek and walked to the door, turning off the light. Was he even going to say goodnight, or just run out the door?

Suddenly he was back in the bed, lying down next to me. "I'll never leave if you don't want me to," he whispered in my ear before placing a kiss on my forehead. "Now, sleep," he commanded.

He pulled the blanket up to cover me and I snuggled into him as he wrapped his arms around me. I drifted off to sleep immediately.

Paul:

I intended to sleep for about 6 hours and get back to Rachel by about eight. Unfortunately when the alarm on my phone went off at 7:30 I was in no mood to get up. I was in the middle of an amazing dream (centering on Rachel, surprise, surprise) so I threw the phone against the wall. Thankfully I'd gotten the 'durable' phone at the wireless store. I rolled over and went back to sleep for what I told myself was only going to be one more hour.

When I finally woke I was confused by the darkness. The sun didn't set until after 9 this time of year. It couldn't be too much after 8:30, right? I retrieved my phone from behind the couch and checked the time. Eleven? I'd slept two and half hours longer than I intended to. Rachel was probably in bed right now.

I rushed out of the house and over to Rachel's as fast as my truck would take me. I probably could have gotten there faster running, but I still wasn't in the mood to get tortured about imprinting. Those assholes would be lucky if I ever phased again.

I parked in front of the house and knocked on the door before letting myself in. I found Rachel and Jacob sitting on the couch watching TV. I smiled at Rachel, and she returned it warmly. I heard Jacob groan at his sister's excitement to see me. I smirked at him. This was something he'd just have to get used to.

She walked over to me and hugged me tightly. "How was your nap?" she asked.

I smiled at her as I let my hands drop to her waist. "The best one I've ever had," I said honestly.

"Why is that?" she asked with a smile.

I looked at Jacob before I answered. He wasn't going to like this, and I really didn't want more broken ribs, especially in front of Rachel. I looked back at her. "Because I dreamt about you," I said.

Jacob made a retching sound, and I hoped he was choking on something. No such luck. He stood from the couch and passed by us, staring me down. "I'll leave you two alone," he stated, and I knew full well that he would be listening in on every word.

As soon as he was gone Rachel, and I walked over to the couch and I put my arm around her as we sat. I turned off the TV so I had her full attention.

"How's it sinking in?" I asked as I took her hand in mine. I was nervous that she wasn't doing as well as she I thought. I knew she was good at putting up a brave front.

She smiled as she replied, "Ok, I think. I'm not running away screaming, so that's good right?"

I laughed. It was true. She was so much more laid-back about it than anyone else had been. "Yeah, that's progress. Actually I think you might be the first imprint to get a handle on it on the first day. I guess I got pretty lucky with you," I said as I leaned in close, our lips about to touch.

"I love you Paul," she said before brushing her lips on mine. I froze in my spot, eyes wide. She loved me. I knew it. I knew that earlier she was falling in love with me. And now, best of all, she knew it.

"Really?" I asked eagerly.

She smiled and started her explanation. "Well, actually, I think it might be something deeper than love. All I know for sure is that I plan to spend the rest of my life with you." I sighed. She was perfect. She continued, "We'll get married. We'll have babies. We'll never be apart." The lie detector in my head started going off. What was going on? Was she just saying these things because she thought that's what I wanted? I could wait until she was ready.

It was with her next sentence that I realized she wasn't doing this to help me; she was trying to hurt me. "Did I ever mention I want 6 children? Because I do. And I want to get married as soon as possible. Preferably before the summer is over. Also, do you know of any houses for sale? We should start looking. Make sure there's room for a nursery because I want to start our family as soon as possible. And you get paid well for being in the pack right? I hope so because I really want to be a housewife. That'll work out right?"

I couldn't believe she was saying these things. She obviously didn't want them, so why was she telling me that she did? The only explanation I could come up with was that she wanted to hurt me. She wouldn't do that right?

"Why are you lying to me?" I asked her.

"What?" She sounded shocked, like I shouldn't be able to tell when she's lying.

"I know you're lying. Like I told you, I want to make you happy. And if that's what you really wanted, then I would want those things too. But I don't want to marry you. And I don't want to have children, at least not yet," I explained, hoping that if she understood that I knew she was lying that she would be more likely to tell me the truth. "It's obvious that you don't really want those things. So why did you lie and tell me you did?"

She looked ashamed. She was flat out lying from the start. She never even had flashes of these feelings for me. I pulled her face up to meet mine. "Please answer me."

"I wanted to freak you out a little bit. Just enough so that you would know it's not ok to play with someone's emotions like you did to me. But now I see that I tried to do the same thing to you, so I'm just as guilty," she said, biting her lip.

I narrowed my eyes. She thought I was playing with her. "When did I ever play with your emotions?"

"Umm, today," she answered angrily. "When you said you imprinted on me. I know you only said that to try to get in my pants. And if I were another girl it probably would have worked. So I had to take a stand for girls everywhere."

What had I done to deserve this? She was playing with me like I was a fucking toy that didn't have any feelings. My hands started shaking but I got control of them quickly. Not quickly enough, as Rachel saw them and rushed to the door. She threw it open and hid behind it. I moved from irritated to pissed. She thought I would phase with her in the room? That would never happen.

And she thought I made up imprinting just as an excuse to sleep with her? That just about pushed me over the edge. What kind of cynical person would think that true love would work as a line to get in someone's pants? Oh, that's right. My imprint. I shook my head as I walked over to the door and pulled it away from her.

"How dare you think I would use that as a line? Imprinting isn't a joke. And I would never phase when you were around. It's horrible that you would think I could lose control like that!"

I let the anger take over as I pulled her up to meet my eyes. "I will never hurt you," I said in a low voice, hoping she could hear the conviction.

Her eyes widened. "Imprinting is real?"

I could tell this was going to be a long night. "Yes!" I assured her. "I would never lie about something like that." Then I just had to let her know how badly her accusations hurt, "And just so you know, I don't lie to girls in general. It's just not my style."

She looked down at the floor again, and I knew I had taken it too far. I shouldn't have yelled at her. I shouldn't have rubbed it in her face that I don't lie. There was a long list of things I shouldn't have done that would have made this conversation go much more smoothly.

I saw a spark in her eye and she pushed away from me and walked down the hall. I followed, not sure what she was up to. She stopped at the door to Jacob's room and threw it open.

"Need something?" he asked her, keeping his eyes on me. He was just itching for an excuse to throw me out. I could feel it. I hoped he wasn't going to get the satisfaction.

Rachel bombarded him with her question, and I realized I should have brought Jacob into this a long time ago. He could have stood in the background, nodding his head, letting her know everything was true. He probably would have kicked the shit out of me.

"Imprinting. Is it real? Yes or no?" she asked. I liked that she didn't ask for his opinion, since I'm sure he wanted to give it to her.

He just nodded and said, "Yes, Rach. It's real."

I saw her move in front of me and suddenly she was falling. She fainted. I caught her before she hit the floor and sent a warning look to Jacob who was jumping off his bed. I could take care of her myself.

I pulled her up in my arms, treasuring the close proximity. I carried her into her room and set her on the bed. She appeared to be fine. I took a seat next to her and stared at the wall. I really didn't know how I was going to make it past this.

I felt her sit up as she put her hand on my lower back. "Paul, I'm so sorry," she whispered in my ear.

I didn't move my gaze. I didn't understand how she could treat me that way. Was she completely heartless? I loved her of course, but now I wasn't sure if she was even capable of loving me. My heart sunk.

She sat up next to me, swinging her legs next to mine, taking one of my hands. I laced our fingers together, wishing we fit together as well as our fingers did. She put her head on my shoulder, and I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around her, not knowing how she would react.

I didn't know if I would be able to take this torture forever. She would never fall in love with me. She would never appreciate me. She would be happy, but I knew that if we kept on this current course, her happiness would not trickle down to me. Her happiness would be my misery. I couldn't bear the thought of it.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked me.

"You," I replied, looking at her. I couldn't let her know what I was thinking. I would keep this to myself. She could never know that her happiness was causing me pain.

"God, Paul. I'm so sorry. I'm not good at this. Really, I'm not. I don't know how to respond when a normal guy likes me," she ranted.

My eyebrows pulled together. I had no idea what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"I have this theory that I only attract guys that are horrible for me. So as a general rule, if they like me, there's something wrong with them. That's why I don't date." She looked at me as if she were wishing I would agree with her. She wanted me to say that I was horrible for her so she could go back to her comfortable world where everything was predictable.

I found myself for a brief second jealous of Quil. He had it so easy imprinting on a two year old. Sure he has to wait for her to grow up but when she finally does there would be no baggage. No one will have broken her heart before he gets there. Oh man, he's going to get a kick out of that one.

But I was lucky too. She seemed truly remorseful for the way she had treated me. I needed to stop the pain that was running through her.

I brushed the hair out of her eyes and left my hand on her cheek. "Well, there's your first problem. I'm not horrible for you. In fact, some would argue I'm perfect for you. That's what imprinting means," I told her. I touched my nose to hers as I continued with something I hadn't realized until that very moment. I whispered, "And just so you know. When you said that you loved me earlier, you meant it." I stroked her cheek as she replied.

"I know…Actually, I knew I loved you this afternoon. I just forgot for a few hours," she said with a shy smile. I almost fainted. She knew without me having to show her. I smiled widely, knowing that we were going to be just fine.

She leaned in to kiss me but I pulled back. She wasn't going to get off that easily.

I stroked my chin like an evil professor, hatching my plan. "Hmm, how can I keep you from forgetting again?" I was thinking of different ways to make her say she loved me over and over again.

She wasn't going to wait. "Like this," she said, pulling my hand away from my face, kissing me. I chuckled. This was much better than any plan I was coming up with. I turned my body to her and pulled her on to my lap. I leaned back onto the headboard, cradling her as we kissed sweetly.

I pulled away just to stare at her and to my delight she was staring right back. I hoped this moment would never end. I kept running my hand through her hair, loving the feel between my fingers.

I was lost in her beauty when she yawned. I was keeping her awake. I looked at her sternly. "Why didn't you tell me you were tired?" It wasn't fair of me to keep her up when I had slept all day.

She moved a hand to my face. "I didn't want you to leave," she answered simply.

I smiled at her and moved her off of my lap, onto the bed. I kissed her on the cheek as I went to turn off the light. Once it was dark I moved back to the bed, crawling in behind her. Her startled jump was endearing. She wasn't expecting me to come back.

"I'll never leave if you don't want me to," I promised. I kissed forehead then said, "Now sleep."

I pulled a blanket to cover her and she nuzzled in close to me. I put my arms around her and sighed into her hair. "I love you Rachel."

She was already asleep.

A/N: Woohoo, they're in love! And sleeping together. (Actually sleeping, but still.) Think Jake is happy about this? Let me know!