Sorry for the wait everyone. I actually partially wrote three different versions of this chapter and was trying to decide which one i liked best to finish. Thanks for all the amazing reviews and i'm so glad everyone is enjoyng the story. is is awful of me to say that i'm starting to prefer Abby to Lily? let me know what you think!

Music spilled out of Abby's apartment as I opened the door and looked around. I could hear her singing from the bathroom and I smiled and headed for her kitchen, to help myself to a beer.

It had been just over two months since I met Abby and every time I saw her I fell more and more in love with her. I split my time between La Push and her apartment, staying over once or twice a week, and we had fallen into an easy routine. I went to see her play, every gig without fail, and she would come home with me as soon as she was done singing. We came back here, listened to her massive record/ CD collection and talked well into the night. I knew almost everything there was to know about her and that made me more than happy. I flicked through an old car magazine I had left here a few days ago as I waited on her to get ready. At Sam's insistence I was bringing her down to the reservation to meet the pack. I refused to tell her about the pack just yet but Sam had ordered me to bring her down so that they could at least meet her and make sure she wasn't going to be a threat to us. I had tried to put him off by telling him that Abby was shy and hated meeting new people but Jared had ruined my case when he laughed loudly. Jared was the only member of the pack Abby had really met and spoke to. Sure, I had introduced her to everyone that night in the bar but that had been the last time she had seen them. Jared worked in the bar she had begun frequenting since meeting me and so the three of us sat around the bar and talked while she waited on her cue. So he knew she wasn't a bit shy and that she loved meeting new people and he had told Sam that. Sam had rolled his eyes and told me to pick a date so I chose tonight.

The shower stopped suddenly and the singing became louder. I recognised the old song that she sang and I tapped my feet along as she finished up in the bathroom. I wondered if I should shout out and tell her I was here or if I should just wait until she saw me and had another mini-heart attack as she called it. I loved the shrieking sound she made when I snuck up on her. I loved how she jumped about a foot in the air and how she clutched at the top of her chest, a few inches away from where her actual heart was. I loved everything about her.

There was the shriek…then the jumping in the air and the clutching at the heart… and then came the glare.

"Paul! How many times…"

I cut her off by kissing her. Her hair was dripping wet and I followed on of the water drops with my finger. I followed it down her cheek, across her jaw, down the side of her throat, over her collarbone and down the expanse of skin of her chest until it disappeared under the towel she wore. She pressed closer to me and I groaned, my hands fisted against her hips.

"You're here early." She commented, pulling away from me slowly. I followed her to the bedroom, my heart pounding in my ears and my blood boiling slowly. I lifted a pile of clothes off the wicker seat in the corner and sat down, propping my feet up on the window ledge and watching the rain as Abby moved around, singing and getting ready.

"Hold tight count to three, gotta stay close by me and hold tight, sing and shout, just ride my roundabout and hold tight, shut your eyes girl you suit me for size… forget the other guys, you'll never fall each time you call hold tight, hold tight… hold tight…"

I turned away from the window and watched as she danced, pulling jeans over slim, pale legs. She shook her hips as she pulled the towel away from her upper body. Her bare back was to me and I watched, entranced, as she snapped a blue bra across her back and pulled the straps up her arms. I wanted to kiss every inch of that skin… to count exactly how many flowers floated down from the two swallows across her shoulder blades. As she moved her hands I could see the tail of the koi fish that wrapped around her side.

I was pulled out away from my appraisal when she pulled a light grey shirt over her skin, making me frown.

"Spoil my fun why don't you?" I grumbled. Instead of replying she sent me a small wink and sat on her bed to pull her boots on.

"What time do we have to be at your friends house at?" She asked as she slipped a cardigan over her shirt. I yawned and stretched in the chair before standing.

"Whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready now." She picked up her leather jacket and slid her handbag over her shoulder before heading towards the door, turning lights out and checking windows as she passed.

"So it's just going to be Sam and Emily, right? I mean, you're not going to bombard me with a million people. Right?"

I smiled at her uneasily and shook my head. "Nowhere near a million."

She narrowed her eyes at my evasion and sighed. "How many?"

"Around fifteen or so. Probably not even." I told her with a grin. She groaned loudly.

"You know I'm not good in a crowd." She warned me. "I may say something stupid and completely embarrass you in front of your friends."

"I wouldn't worry too much. They pretty much know every embarrassing secret I have."

"Really? How is that?"

"I'll tell you some day." I grinned at her, trying to back track. I hadn't meant to say so much so soon.

"Why not tell me now?"

"Because… if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Liar. You could never hurt anyone. You're all bark and no bite." She was giggling softly and I smiled at the sound.

"Woof woof."

She laughed fully, leaning her head back against the seat and closing her eyes. I kept one hand on the wheel of the car and slid my other hand over to her leg. Her smile widened slightly but she kept her eyes closed and I turned back to the road. After a few seconds of silence she sat up and turned to look at me.

"What happened the girl you were with the night you met me?"

I turned in surprise, thinking back to that night. I couldn't remember anyone or anything about that night except for Abby.

"What girl?"

"I just remembered. I was in the toilets, getting changed, and these two girls came in and they were talking about a Sam, an Emily, a Jared and a Paul. I'm guessing one of them is Jared's girl but what about the other one? She seemed pretty keen on you."

I vaguely remembered that I had been on a sort of casual date that night and I shrugged.

"You mean Alex? Nah, it was nothing serious. She's a friend of Kim's that has a crush on me."

"So you hit on me when you were out with someone else? You dog." She sounded serious and for a few seconds I wondered if I had actually offended her but one glanced at her smirk and suppressed giggles and I knew that I hadn't.

"What is with you? Why do you keep referring to me as a dog?" I asked with a chuckled. It was something I was sensitive to, something the leeches often threw at us, but I couldn't find it in me to take offence at what Abby had said to me.

"Because all men are dogs honey."

I chuckled as I drove across the boarder of La Push, the invisible line that separates our territory from theirs.

"Hey, when we get there, don't stare at Emily too much okay?"

Abby raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at me and I quickly continued.

"A few years ago she was in the woods with Sam and she got mauled by a bear. She has a few scars across her face and Sam really hates it when people stare at her so just… just don't, okay." The last thing I needed was for Abby to stare too long at Emily's face and piss off Sam. Being on the wrong side of the Alpha was never fun, especially when he could order me to do anything he wanted and I had to obey.

"Wow. Okay, I won't stare." She promised just as we pulled into the space beside Sam and Emily's house.

The house was brightly lit in the dark night and I saw Abby taking a deep, steadying breath as she made her way towards the door. I took her small hand in mine and kissed the back of it softly before we walked inside. The noise bombarded us instantly and I saw Abby wince slightly as Claire let out a full fledged shriek and threw herself at me. For reasons unknown to everyone, Claire had taken a liking to me the first time we met and I was her third favourite werewolf, after Quil and her uncle Sam of course; since then she had delighted in deafening me every chance she got.

"Hey Claire bear." I greeted her, swinging her up into my arms.

"Who's that?"

"This is Abby."

"Hey there sweetie." Abby greeted Claire with a smile. Claire stared, completely entranced, at Abby's colourful beaded necklace.

"My name's Claire."

"That's a pretty name. For a pretty girl." Abby replied.

"You're necklace is pretty." Claire told Abby seriously. "It's so colourful. Quil said he's going to make me a necklace that colourful one day."

Abby chuckled and leaned over so that she and Claire were face to face, before slipping the necklace over her head.

"Well, why don't you wear this one until he makes you it."

Claire accepted the necklace gleefully, pulling it over her neck and admiring it. She struggled in my arms and I sat her down, watching as she speedily dodged the legs of everyone else in the room, heading for Quil.

"That was nice of you." Emily's soft voice spoke from before us and I watched, casually leaning against the counter, as Abby turned to face her.

"I have a few of them at home," Abby told her. I watched her eyes flicker to the scars once, then again, before focusing fully on Emily's eyes. "A friend brought me them back from Mardi Gras a few years ago. You must be Emily. I'm Abby."

I watched as Emily smiled at Abby and shook her hand, feeling the tension drain out of my body. If Emily accepted Abby then everyone else would follow. For some reason Emily's opinion was trusted over everyone else's. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she never judged anyone. Emily saw the best and worst in people and if she accepted someone, then they were worth accepting.

"So, Paul tells me you sing." Emily spoke softly and Abby chuckled.

"Oh, so he talks about me, huh?"

"All the time." Emily winked. "We can barely get him to shut up."

"Funny, I have the same problem. I've found that gagging is the answer."

"Ooh, kinky."

I turned to glare at Embry as he stepped into the room, following by Sam and Jared.

"So gagging, what else do you two get up to when you're in that apartment all by yourselves."

"I'm pretty sure you're too innocent to hear about it." Abby retorted. Despite the fact that Embry was so much taller than Abby, she still managed to look down her nose at him and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"It helps if you ignore him." Jared told Abby. "Then he goes away to bother someone else."

"Hey." Embry protested.

"Hey, Jared." Abby greeted Jared with a hug and I felt the jealousy well up. I glared at him as he pulled away and he rolled his eyes in exasperation. I knew I was being overly paranoid and obnoxious but see anyone but me touching Abby made the animal part of me want to snap my teeth at them and declare her as mine. For some reason when Jared touched her, I felt even worse.

"You need any help with dinner?" I heard Abby talking to Emily again and when I looked up the room had cleared, leaving just me, Abby, Emily and Sam. Sam leaned against the counter top opposite me, his gaze on the two girls in the middle of the room. He caught my eye and flashed a small smile, showing me that he approved of her. I felt the last of the tension drain out of my body and relaxed, listening to Abby's random conversation with Emily.

"Have you ever been to Mexico?" Emily was asking.

"Once, when I was about fourteen. My dad took me down for Dia De Los Muertos."

"What's that?" She glanced away from Emily to smile at my question before turning back.

"It's Day of the Dead. Anyway, me and my dad went down there and had the best time. It was a little sad but it was so much fun." She was saying. "You should totally go there for your honeymoon. We stayed in this little boutique hotel in Mexico City and the whole place was beautiful. Like, astoundingly beautiful."

As I watched her talking about her trip with her father I couldn't imagine her disliking him as much as she had said she had a few weeks ago.

"Sam, can you tell the boys to start washing up, diner's almost ready." Emily smiled at Sam and, obedient as always, he headed for the next room. I watched as Emily quickly doled out four plates and set them to the side on the counter beside her. I watched Abby's face pale as she heard the loud, heavy footprints and I pulled her out of the way quickly as the stampede of hungry werewolves piled inside the small kitchen. Emily pulled Abby to the counter beside her and once I was sure she was okay I headed for the table, not wanting to miss out on the food. I was starving. Abby stood next to Emily and Kim, eating from one of the plates that Emily had saved. Claire sat at their feet, eating happily as she sang along to herself.

Dinner was, as always, a noisy affair. The entire pack had learned long ago that if you wanted to be heard over diner, you shouted. I glanced over at Abby a few times to make sure she wasn't overwhelmed and was surprised, but happy, to see her keeping up a conversation with Emily and Kim. It looked like she had been here the entire time, as if she had always belonged. I can't even describe how happy I was watching her laughing at something Kim said to her and I can't describe the rush of affection I got for her as I watched her smiled warmly at Emily before complimenting her on her hair. Emily beams at her, not used to strangers complimenting anything about her, and I know suddenly that my life is complete.

After diner I led her to the living room by the hand, pulling her past people so that we could get seats before they were all claimed. She giggled as I pulled her onto my lap and I couldn't help but reach down to kiss her.

"Eww, Uncle Paul's kissing Abby!" Claire squealed in disgust, burying her dark head in Quil's neck. Abby blushed as the rest of the group chuckled and I raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't normally blush.

"So, Abby, what is it you do?"

I saw Abby inwardly groan at Sam's question and wanted to reassure her that no one in the room would judge her. As it was, the only members of the pack that had a full time job were Jacob and Embry who were both working at some garage just outside of Port Angeles and Jared who worked in the bar. I could occasionally get jobs but my 'attitude problem' and my 'anger management issues' meant that they never last more than a few weeks, a month tops.

"I'm a waitress in a café." Abby finally answered. She was defiant as she looked Sam straight in the eye, as if daring him to look down at her and I could actually feel her relaxing against me as he just smiled and nodded.

"Do you like it?" Kim asked. Kim had gotten a scholarship to Brown but had turned it down because she didn't want to leave Jared. Her parents had been so annoyed that they told her she could start living with Jared so she moved in with the two of us and worked in a café in Forks to help pay the rent. I was still living off the money my grandparents had left me when they died but it was slowly but surely disappearing and I knew I would have to get a job and stick to it soon. I was so lost in my thoughts that I completely missed Abby's answer to Kim. Not that I needed to hear it, I already knew how much Abby loved working in the small, 50s style diner in Port Angeles.

The conversation flowed around us and I felt Abby settled back against me, resting her head against my chest as she listened to Embry and Jacob arguing over something stupid. I tightened my grip around her, settling my hand on the warm skin of her stomach and smiled at her, completely content.