I am going through a slightly depressed mode right now. Maybe I should have ended the story last chapter, but I enjoy epilogues. They make me feel good inside. I've decided, and there's going to be this chapter, and then one more after it. If you've fallen a fraction as much in love with my characters as I have, you'll stick with me here. Speaking of which, thanks to all of you who've stuck with me through all of this. You've been there since the beginning and showed true support. A special thank you to Baron Hotschaft Von Hugenstein, Frog Disease, Ana562, Gryffindor Gurl2, September999, guardgirl414, and I'm sure there are others that I neglected to mention because I am prone to forgetfulness. Another to my friend for helping me with a gift idea. If you feel the need for a shout out, inform me in a review or something and I'll give you one in the next chapter.

Last time:

Later, I sat up in bed, a book in my hand, a bowl of soup on my bedside table, that dog curled up at my feet, thinking of Seth. I'd get out of the sickroom soon, and maybe he'd visit me beforehand. Hey, we were soul mates. There was no maybe about it.

Mom insisted that I stay home from school for another day at the very least. I didn't argue too hard. I wasn't recovering from an illness, but I did need a little mental recovery time. I'd known about all this for less than a month, and I'd obtained a werewolf boyfriend, almost broken up with him for reasons that made me question my sanity, made friends with a vampire hybrid, gotten kidnapped and taken to Italy, and reunited with said boyfriend. And if I said any of this I would be committed. I was almost starting to doubt myself.

True to his word, Seth dropped by the next day, and my mom let him in. Luckily, I was no longer on forced bed rest. I had proven to her that I felt fine. I also was no longer wearing my pajamas, which were decisively baggy, but extremely comfortable. This helped somewhat.

"Are you doing okay?" was the first thing he said when he saw me. My mom looked touched. She assumed he was referring to my 'illness.'

"Never better," I answered. I will not go into how much I wanted to touch him at that moment. "Come on," I said, taking his hand (YES!) and leading him into the living room. I didn't even need to look back to know the expression on my mother's face. She and I shared a similar passion for romance novels. That was the look we made when the two leads finally decided they liked each other. We were kind of past that stage, though.

Miraculously, Chris and Dan were elsewhere on this particular day. I glanced outside. The sun was actually shining. That explained it. Strangely fitting.

As soon as we'd gotten out of my mom's line on vision I wrapped him into the tightest hold I could, making sure he was still here. I buried my face in the front of his t-shirt (he was presumably wearing it so as to keep in Mom's good graces) and let him pull me even closer.

"I missed you," I whispered. I sure did like to state the obvious.

"I miss you every time I'm gone. You have no idea what this is like," Seth countered. "Just being here." He bent his head down and tilted mine up with his hands. "I love you."

I hoped my reaction was enough of an answer for him, because I didn't want to wait any longer. I took my arms off his midsection and closed the small distance between us. His hands buried themselves in my hair, and mine started feeling up his muscular back. We somehow ended up on the couch, me on his lap. Damn, did I love him.

After what seemed like several hours, but had probably only been several minutes, Seth stopped and hurriedly placed me next to him on the sofa. I was all set to complain when I noticed that Sophie was standing in front of us, looking very much amused.

"What?" I demanded.

"Just wondering. Is it really smart to be making out right after you're sick? He could catch something." She said it so innocently, but I knew her too well. She was holding back peals of laughter. I knew I should be annoyed, but I could sense Seth there next to me, and the calm, kind aura he cast over everything. I snuggled in closer to him than he had intended Sophie to witness.

"I'll be fine. I had my V8 juice," Seth said good-naturedley.

Sophie stopped trying to hold in her laughter then. It erupted from her, and made me giggle along. Seth laughed too, I could feel his deep laughter reverberating in his chest. Sophie clutched her sides and slunk out of the room. My giggling stopped after a few seconds.

"Where were we?" I asked, looking directly into Seth's dark eyes. And yes, for those of you who are wondering, he was looking. It's pretty much a constant thing.

He didn't bother answering aloud. He just pulled me back over to him and placed his lips on mine. Good answer. We resumed our previous activities like we'd never been paused. He left tingling trails wherever he touched me. I wanted to keep going forever.

"I love you too," I whispered in his ear. He stopped for a moment and unleashed the full power of his gaze, his eyes roaming over my face and body, before continuing our make out fest.

xxxxxxxxxxx 2 months later xxxxxxxxxxx

All in all, it was the strangest sweet sixteen party I'd ever seen. The pack (Jacob's), plus the imprints, plus a few of my friends from school, Mason, Allie, Cassie, and a few others, and each of my siblings had been allowed to bring a friend. All of this in out kitchen, living room, and dining room under the drizzling November sky.

My parents had been a bit surprised at the guest list, and at the amount of chips and sodas I'd set out.

"Haley, there aren't that many people."

"Trust me. We're going to need it. Have you ever seen teenagers eat?" They believed me after that. We'd had Seth over for dinner. I think Mom took it as a compliment.

I'd been right. Five pack members equalled a lot of food. Leah wasn't as bad as some, but even she still packed it in.

She headed over to me, practically attached to Lorenzo. Imprint bonds. They're nothing if not quick.

"Happy Birthday!" she exclaimed, taking me into a hug.

"Happy Birthday," Lorenzo agreed, a little more calmly. I'd never thought that Leah would be so enthusiastic until she'd met Lorenzo. His quiet nature seemed to balance that out quite well, though. And I thought, in a way, they helped heal each other.

"Guess what?" Leah asked.

"What?"

"Lorenzo's a U.S. citizen now." She looked so happy.

I turned to Lorenzo, confused. "Already? Isn't there some sort of process and test?"

"The Cullens offered the assistance of a man called Jenks."

"He gives them new birth dates every few years," Leah put in. "He also does legal documents pretty well."

"Congratulations," I said. Okay, they were breaking the law, and I knew it, but what right had I to judge? In their position, I knew that I would do the exact same thing.

Mason, Allie, and Cassie were happy for me. Surprised, yes. They knew I went on some dates with Seth. I never knew how to tell them how fast the relationship had actually progressed. So they thought it was kind of funny the first time they saw us together since the bonfire where we met. Suffice to say, we had been kissing in his car. I hadn't known they were there until they tapped on the window.

Allie tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and was immediately bombarded with presents, "Happy Birthday!"s, hugs, and an "Are all of Seth's friends this hot?" from Cassie.

Mason was his usual exuberant self. "So where's the hot boy-toy at?" I rolled my eyes and looked around for Seth. Strangely, he seemed to have disappeared. Then I felt a pair of hot arms envelope me from behind, and understood Mason's enormous grin. I leaned back against Seth and just let his very presence wash over me.

"Happy Birthday, Haley," he said. I felt caressed by his words. My friends gave me a we get it look, and went to go attempt to forage some food. I appreciated it more than I could tell them. They were great, and accepting, and were really worried about me during my 'sick spell'. They also seemed to understand my need for time with Seth.

"Thanks," I said. I turned around so that I could see him. He was holding a small wrapped package in one hand. He held it out to me with a sunny smile on his face. I took it from him and unwrapped it, trying not to tear the wrapping paper.

I held in my hand a small wooden disk, approximately equal in diameter to the length of my little finger. I picked it up to look at it more closely and discovered a chain attached to it. In ridiculously clear detail, a small paw print was etched into one side of it. It was actually three dimensional, not just an outline.

I was astonished. I lifted it up and almost immediately saw a bit of writing on the other side. In all capital letters, was an H.A. + S.C. It was so sweet and touching and childlike and innocent that I almost teared up.

"Thank you so much. I can't even tell you how much this means to me," I said, taking his hand.

"You don't think that putting our initials there was too..." he trailed off.

"Those are your initials? I thought it was referring to Santa Claus," I smiled. "No. It's perfect. I can't believe you made this!"

"It was nothing," Seth said. He took it from me and opened the delicate chain. He slid it around my neck and fastened it. I ran my fingers over it, familiarizing myself with what I knew I wouldn't take off. Well, except for showers, or bed, or swimming, but it just didn't sound as romantic.

I reached up and touched his face with my hand, feeling the heat under my palm. Seth put his much larger hand over mine, and just held it there for a moment. I think we just stood there for several minutes, neither of us making a movement besides blinking.

"Hey kids!" my dad said, popping up out of seemingly nowhere. I slid my hand back down to my side instantly. Accepting, my dad might be, but happy about it, he wasn't. It was a really good thing my mom was the one who held the reins.

"Happy birthday Halikins," I ignored the usage of the childhood pet name, and hugged him back, even though his motives were glaringly obvious. I eyed Seth over his shoulder. I guessed Dad would just have to get used to it.

"You guys! It's time for cake!" Sophie insisted as she rushed around the room, herding people into a small group by the table. I saw Nessie there, as contented as I'd ever seen her, standing next to Jacob. Claire was sitting on Quil's shoulders. Embry didn't much look like he cared about being the only unimprinted one left in their little group. In fact, he was sort of looking at Allie in a certain way. Leah and Lorenzo were holding hands and talking. Mason just looked excited for cake. My family just wondered how I made such unusual friends.

I was pushed to the front of the cake line. It was huge, to say the least. It also had a very intricate design of colored sprinkes. I recognized Sophie's work. I was made to listen to a very loud rendition of "Happy Birthday." As I was blowing out the candles, I realized I had forgotten to make a wish. I decided it was okay, because at that moment, I wouldn't have been able to think of one thing that I either wanted or needed.

The Dad started to sing an off-key version of Sixteen Candles. I elbowed him slightly. There was no excuse for inflicting this kind of torture on the guests. I recognized, belatedly, what I should have wished for.

Everyone gave him a round of applause at the end. I think he knew he was being made fun of, but he soaked up the attention and laughs like a sponge. I laughed along with everyone else, but my siblings had mysteriously disappeared. I couldn't say I blamed them.

After pigging out and chatting, everyone slowly started trickling out. It was nice to know that so many people cared about me. I mean, as sweet sixteens go, that was a bit lame. It wasn't a loud huge party in some rented place with its own DJ. But that wasn't at all my thing, and all of my friends from school came anyway. I'd have expected the pack to come either way. They sure did stick together.

Seth and I went out the door too, but we didn't go over to his car. Instead, we just started walking. The woods were damp, but the trees protected us from the drizzle. His hand was placed against the small of my back. The last time we'd been out walking here was two months ago, when he was in wolf form and we were going to the Cullens'.

"What're you thinking?" Seth asked. I realized I'd been unusually quiet.

"About the last time I was here," I said. "It was fun. I'd never done anything like that before."

"It was, huh." Seth took off his cotton t-shirt and handed it to me. "Do you mind holding this? I only have enough stuff to tie the pants to my leg."

I then knew what he was doing. This was almost as good a birthday present as the necklace, only because the necklace would last longer. A wave of gratitude and love swept through me. "You don't have to go to any trouble."

But he shut my polite remark up with a kiss. And I was so consumed with him that when he broke away and said, "I'll be right back," it took me a moment to figure out what he was saying. I guessed it would be a bad idea to see him before a test or something.

My favorite wolf came back towards me from behind a tree a few seconds later. He nuzzled my face slightly and I laughed. As much as this was Seth, it must have looked a little weird. So, logically, I did the one thing that would look even weirder. I swung one leg over his back and held on as we raced through the trees.