DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer, along with Little, Brown and Company, owns all the rights to the Twilight Saga. I own nothing and profit nothing from this story.

I pulled into the driveway to see Sam waiting for me on the porch. Before I could get my seat belt off, he had the truck door open for me. I released the belt and fell into his strong, welcoming arms.

"I missed you," he murmured into my hair.

"I missed you too." He pulled back and I could see eyes shining with happiness. Sam leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on my lips. I leaned in again for more, but he set me down on the ground, and grabbed my hand.

"Come on, dinner's ready," he said guiding me to his front door.

We went inside and I saw that he already had everything set up on the table. A blue table cloth replaced the previously bare wood that was normal there. There were two lit candles on the table as well. And the food just looked delicious. There was a large dish holding a roast with potatoes and carrots soaking up its juices. Green beans and corn bread sat in their own dishes on the table.

"I knew you could cook a little, but I didn't think you could cook a whole meal quite like this." Sam looked away.

"I don't," he grimaced. "I asked my mom to help."

"That was nice of her."

"Yeah, well, I sort of told her that if she would cook for us tonight, that I'd introduce you to her by the end of next week."

"Oh," I said numbly. Meeting his mom would be a big step. He already knew Charlie, and Charlie loved Sam. There would be no awkwardness there, especially it was just thirty minutes eariler that Charlie practically pushed me out the door when he heard I was coming to see Sam.

"I can get us out of it, if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine. I'm just surprised. I guess it's fair though. You've meet Charlie."

"True, but we'll only go if you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Great, 'cause I know she's going to love you." I sure hoped so.

We sat down and started to fill our plates. We enjoyed the meal that Sam's mother fixed for us. I was right, it was delicious. After dinner we went into the living room. We got situated on the couch. Sam sat first at one end of the couch. I followed suit and sat next to him. Now that I knew he was mine forever, or at least I was hoping that was what the imprint meant, I wasn't going to waste time not being close to him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. I rested my head on his chest. I loved the warmth. We were quiet for a few minutes, so I decided to break the silence.

"So what does being imprinted on exactly mean?"

"Well, for you it doesn't have to mean anything. The imprint doesn't do anything to you. You can go on with your life normally without me in it." I looked at him like he was crazy. How could I not want him in my life? That was just crazy.

"What if I want you in it?"

"Then I'll be it. In any way you want."

"What if I want us to be together, like a couple?"

"That would make me the happiest man on earth," he said smiling brightly.

"Good because that is exactly what I want. I want you…forever."

"Then that's exactly what you'll get. I'd do anything for you, Bella."

"So what makes an imprint relationship different than a normal one?"

"Well, you never have to worry about me leaving you or being unfaithful. I'm one-hundred percent committed to you and only you. Now that doesn't mean that we'll never fight or disagree, but we'll always be together at the end of the day. You have my complete devotion."

"I like the sound of that."

"Me too, baby," he said, leaning down for kiss. When he started to pull away, I deepened the kiss. He let my tongue explore his mouth. I ran my hands through his dark locks. He moaned into the kiss prior to pulling away. He placed a small kiss on my mouth before he leaned back.

"I don't want to move too fast here, Bella. I want us to do this right."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry. I just want you so much, Bella, and I don't want to lose control. I don't want the inner wolf to take over when it comes to you. The soul mate aspect of imprinting isn't the only part. Part of imprinting is about carrying on the wolf gene."

"What does that mean?" I asked bewildered.

"It means that part of the reason that wolves imprint is to reproduce," he said quietly.

"You mean, kids?"

"Well, yeah, not like tomorrow, but someday." That was huge. I wasn't even out of high school yet and I was already expected to reproduce the next generation.

"I- I'm not sure what to say."

"Bella, we don't have to have children any time soon. And if you don't want them at all, then we don't have to. I just want us to be honest and this is an aspect of imprinting. I feel the need to be with you fully, but I don't want you to feel pressured. We can wait as long as you'd like to. I can fight the need. I've been doing for the past few months, so it's not a big deal."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I just never really imagined myself as a mother, at least not until I felt this connection with you. At the hospital after my accident at the party, I looked at the babies in the nursery. I just stared at them for I'm not sure how long. Eventually Rosalie found me and we talked. But looking at them made me realize that I didn't want to give up the possibility of having one someday. I still don't really see myself as a mother, but I'd be willing to see and learn, if it was with you."

"Yeah?" I nodded my head. "Like I said, we can wait as long as you want. You can go to college first, or do anything you want before we even start to try. And if you change your mind, and don't want to try, then I'll be okay with that. Bella, my life is about making you happy. What you want from our relationship is up to you solely."

"I'm not sure I like having that much power. Do you want children?"

"I want what you want."

"No, if there was no imprint, if my happiness wasn't a factor in your decision, would you want children?"

"Um, well, that's- you- I can't really say, because I can't imagine not having the imprint anymore."

I didn't want him to not have the life he wanted because of me. I wanted to know now what he truly wanted. If he really and truly wanted children, then I would one day give him that. I wanted him to be happy just as much as he wanted me to be happy.

"Before the imprint, when you were with Leah, did you plan on having children with her?"

"Yes."

"Why?" He looked at me confused. "Why did you want children? Because she wanted them or because you wanted them?"

"Well, I knew she wanted them, but that wasn't it. I wanted them too. You know my father left my life when I was younger and even before he left he wasn't much of a dad. I help out at the center, but I want my own son or daughter to raise. I want to be the dad that Joshua never was."

"Then one day, way down the line, we'll try."

"Bella, you don't have to-"

"People work together in a relationship, don't they? I want you to be happy too. I already said that I would try if I had you by my side. If you want a baby, we'll have a baby."

"All right," he said softly. I could see him trying to hide his smile. That alone should be how much he really wanted it. He pulled me close into a hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, though, you don't have to thank me. I can see how much you want it, and that makes me want it too."

"I am so happy everything is out in the open now. I can touch you, hug you, and kiss you whenever I want."

"I'm happy too. I feel like I'm where I belong now."

"You are where you belong, Bella." We sat for a few minutes, Sam just holding me close. "Do you have any more questions? I want us to start with no secrets, with a new slate."

"Um, I don't really think so. I mean, what will happen with us?"

"Well, you can meet the rest of the pack, then my mom. We need to go out on an official date. From there we go where ever we want. We date, when you're out of school and ready, we can get married. Then far, far down the road, we can try for a baby. How does that sound?"

"Perfect," I smiled. "When can I meet the guys and Kim too?"

"Soon, as soon as you want. Kim is dying to meet you. She's really excited about finally having another girl."

"I'm excited to meet them too. They make up a big part of your life. I really want them to like me."

"They'll love you, Bella. Kim may suffocate you at first with hugs and non-stop talking. Jared will probably be too wrapped up in all that is Kim to notice you. And well, Paul can be an ass, but don't worry. I can easily shut him up." I had to laugh. At least he was upfront and honest at what I should expect.

"Okay, then that's it for my questions. Do you have questions for me?"

"Yeah, a few."

"Okay, shoot."

"What happened here?" he asked holding up my wrist that was scarred from James' bite.

"James," I said softly.

"You said that name yesterday."

"Yeah, I did. Last spring break I was with the Cullen family in a field where they play baseball." Sam snorted and I rolled my eyes. "Three vampires heard the noise the family was making and came to investigate. James smelled me and Edward reacted protectively. James was a tracker. The hunt was what he loved. Alice and Jasper accompanied me to Phoenix. There James tricked me into meeting him alone at my old ballet studio. I thought he had my mom, but he didn't. Anyway, he was about to kiss me when Edward came, but not until after he'd already bitten me. I was changing," Sam growled loudly, "but that obviously didn't happen."

"How is that possible? If you're bitten, you change, end of story."

"Not necessarily. Edward sucked out the venom, without allowing any of his own to enter my blood stream. I had severe blood loss, but after a many blood transfusions at the hospital I was fine."

"How did he stop?"

"It wasn't easy from what I was told. Carlisle had to stress to him that he needed to stop. He said he almost didn't, but he did, and I'm alive."

"Well, I guess I have that to be grateful."

"Yeah, so that's that."

"You said there were three, what happened to the other two?"

"Um, well, Laurent supposedly went to stay in Denali, where the Cullen's have some other animal drinking friends live. Victoria, James' mate disappeared. She left Forks and we haven't seen or heard from her again."

"Hmm, all right. Well, that answers that question. What do you want to do?"

"When?" I asked confused.

"In your life. We never really talked about the long term future before. What do you want to do with your life, what do you want to study in college?"

"I'm actually not sure. I love literature and reading, but I'm not sure what to do with that."

"You could teach."

"No, I don't think I would enjoy it. Not many kids or teenagers share my love for books. I wouldn't want to teach to a group of people not interested in the subject and that would be what teaching would be."

"All right, you could write your own book."

"What would I write about?"

"I'm sure you could think of something. You do have a pretty exciting life."

"It's not like I could actually write about what has happened in my life."

"No, I would think not, but I'm sure you could write something inspired by the world around you."

"Maybe, I don't know."

I didn't know. There were endless possibilities of careers and jobs, but none of them called out to me. And there really weren't many things I could do in La Push or Forks. Sam couldn't leave here, so neither could I. I mean, I'm sure he would chastise me for that thought. He would want me to go and do anything my little heart desired, but I wouldn't want to do anything without him by my side, so I would be staying in Forks and La Push. At least until he could go with me.

"Well, you still have time to decide. College applications aren't due until like February, right? That's five months to decide which one would be best for what you decided you want to do."

"What would happen to you if I left?"

"You don't have to worry about me, Bella."

"I saw what you looked like yesterday when you answered the door, Sam."

"That was only because I thought I was never going to see you again. Going to college is not the same as leaving my life forever. We'll make it work, I promise. I'll come visit you as often as I can. I'll leave Jared in charge for a weekend every now and then. Plus, you'll come home for the different breaks. We'll be fine."

"I guess."

"I know, Bella. I won't have you giving anything up to be with me. I wish I could offer you the world, but I can't. So letting you go do anything you want, is what I can give."

"You don't have to give me anything, but you."

"You already have me, baby. You've had me from first sight."

We spent another hour just talking about ourselves. We told each other how it was for us growing up. What kind of childhoods we had, who are friends were. He asked a little bit more about the Cullen's and what my relationship with each of them was. I could tell he didn't like how close I was to them, but he didn't say anything about it. I got ready to head home, Sam had patrol to get to.

"Do you work tomorrow?" he asked.

"No."

"Will you come over tomorrow then? You could meet the pack."

"Um well, I was actually thinking about going to see the Cullen's tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I heard today that they might be moving and I just wanted to find out the truth from them. I deserve a good bye, I think. I can come over afterward."

"All right. Are you sure you'll be okay going over there?"

"I'll be fine. They love me, Sam, they wouldn't hurt me intentionally. And I'll be sure to stay away from sharp edges, paper included. I'll come straight here after I'm done. I just want to talk to them a little." He took a deep breath. I knew it had to be difficult for him to let me go into a house full of vampires, his enemy, but he'd been letting me do it for months.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll stop by the store and pick up something to fix for lunch. I'm assuming Jared and Paul eat as much as you do."

"Yeah."

"All right, I'll be here before noon to start on lunch. Good night, Sam."

"Good night, baby." I reached up for a kiss, though with his height, he had to meet me half way. It was a slow, but chaste kiss. "Tomorrow," he murmured against my lips.

"Tomorrow," I said softly.

Author's Note: Bella goes to see the Cullen's? Will they even be there still? Will all of them be there, some of them, or none of them? We shall see. Thanks again for the tremendous reviews. Also thanks for being so understanding with my Internet issues. Verizon said my new USB modem should arrive on my door step Tuesday. Let's cross our fingers and hope that it does come then.