Chapter 10 Raven takes on the chief

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute and the Makah that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

AN: some readers have asked about Rose's recovery rate - I did a lot of research on coma patients – we all have an image from television that they just wake up and they are 100% okay – this is not true – go figure, who would think television would lie…? 10% just don't wake up, for a start - There are various levels of coma and it sometimes takes a very long time for them to regain control of their muscles, to be able to breathe, swallow, speak and do 'normal' things again – at any rate, back to the story…

Raven knocked sharply at Billy Black's door. Sue opened it and welcomed her warmly; invited her in for tea and cake.

They made small talk for a while, and then Raven looked at the two of them as she sat there at the kitchen table with her mug of tea.

"So," she said, "You are Jake's father and you," she looked at Sue, "are Seth and Leah's mother."

"Yes, that's right," Sue answered brightly. She had met Raven before and she knew she was staying with Embry and Rachel. She had no idea what Raven wanted, but she was determined to be polite.

"And you are both on the tribal council of the Quileute?"

"Raven, what is this about?" asked Billy.

"Cut straight to the point huh?"

"Billy is our Chief," Sue reminded her tactfully.

"Aah, I didn't know that. So that makes Jake…"

Billy nodded.

Raven slid her sleeves up. If Embry were here, he would have warned them to duck.

"Okay, Chief," she said. It didn't sound respectful.

Billy blinked. Sue looked horrified.

"Tell me what the hell is going on with those boys."

"The boys?" asked Sue. Billy said nothing.

"Embry, Jake, Paul, Quil… the rest of them… there is absolutely no way those boys are normal."

Silence.

"Right, so it's going to be like that," Raven stated. "I guess I will just have to tell you what I know…"

And then she started…

"Besides the obvious things like the ridiculous amount of food they eat… they have a body temperature that is so high a normal person would be dead… they do not seem to feel the cold… they move like ballet dancers… I mean that in a good way… they have a physicality that just oozes out of them… they all have extraordinary bodies… I just do not have the words for how they move… or how they look… it's like they have extra vertebrae or something… and if they are together they all move at the same time… its breathtaking… they don't even seem aware that they do it… all their heads turn at something no one else has heard… they look and move like a well trained team of something… I don't know what they are… but they are a team… and the deference they show to Jacob and Sam… they are both so young and they wear a tangible aura of authority… I know Sam is a little older… but not much older…"

She drew a breath.

"When Embry came up to Neah Bay to visit me that first time, he went jogging, shoeless in the dark… the DARK… his eyesight and his hearing are extraordinary… and that sense of smell? He can smell if I have been baking from miles away… I swear he moves inhumanely fast on occasion… I saw him pick up one of my grandchildren who had run into the back of him… which by the way must have been like running into a brick wall… he turned and picked that child up, BEFORE he hit the ground … it is not normal… how on earth my stupid daughter cannot see it when she lived with him every single day is beyond me…" [Who's your daddy? chapter 30]

She finally ground to halt. Sue's face was ashen but Billy had a glint of amusement in his eye.

"I like you Raven," he said.

"Answer the bloody question," she barked at him.

"I didn't see a question," said Billy, "unless it was the part about your daughter not seeing what is right in front of her."

"Humph," said Raven. "She never did see anything she didn't want to see."

Billy gave Raven one of his trademark assessing looks; the ones that made even Paul spill his guts. She didn't even blink.

Raven spoke, "This is my grandson. I adore him. You can rely on my discretion."

Billy nodded. He had made his decision.

He gave Raven the abbreviated version of the tribal legends.

She looked at Sue and reached for her arm. She gave her a gentle squeeze, "Oh Sue," she said sympathetically, "and you have two of them?"

Sue's eyes filled as she managed to nod.

"Your boy is hurting," Raven told her.

"Seth?" she sounded devastated.

"He's in trouble… there is something going on with that girl at the hospital… Rose Hoburn… he is there for hours every single day... he is doing nothing else… the boys know and they can't help him… he needs his mother now…"

Sue gave Billy a panicked glance.

"Go," he said.

He and Raven sat there and looked at each other.

Mums

Rose said her first word. It was 'Mum'. Winona was chatting away on the phone to her as Seth held it next to her ear for her and she spoke. Winona cried so hard, she couldn't talk any more and Seth had to listen to her cry as he looked at Roses' worried eyes.

"Rose is worried about you, Winona," he told her into the phone. The he tried to comfort Rose too. "Your Mum is just happy that you are getting better, that's all… that's why she is crying," he explained to Rose, "They are happy tears, I am sure they are… don't worry."

He waited until he was running home to cry himself. He wailed and howled in some deserted patch of the forest. And then he punched a tree until his hand bled. He knew it was a good thing; a forward step, but he just couldn't explain why it had distressed him so badly.

When he got home his mother was there. He was so distressed after the day and the forest that he couldn't speak to her. His face looked ravaged.

She didn't ask. She just cleaned and bandaged his hand after pulling out more than a few splinters, and then she pulled him onto her lap on the lounge as if were still the little boy who always went to her lap for comfort.

He managed to curl himself into her chest with his long legs off to the side. She patted him on the back, held him close and stroked his hair off his forehead, the way he always liked her to do when he was little. He closed his eyes and his breathing started to even out.

"What's the problem, Sethy?" she eventually asked him.

"There's this girl…" he started.

He told her everything. The one thing he still couldn't really explain was why he had felt he had to be on that stretch of road at that particular time. In all the strain of trying to look after Rose on his own, he had completely forgotten that his own mother was a trained nurse. She had lots of ideas and advice for him about coma patients.

She said they could go and get some of this scented dough for her. She had found it really useful because it helped with a lot of things. It would not set until you baked it, so if you made a mistake you could start again; it would work her fingers and her fine motor skills; the texture felt different; the smell would be a stimulus and she was being artistic. It was all good.

She asked him where she had banged her head. It made a difference because different areas of the brain controlled different things.

She explained to him that he was probably emotionally exhausted too. He must feel like he was all Rose had and while he was clearly important to her, he wasn't alone. She knew Raven was helping; she would help him now and he was a big dummy for not asking her before.

"Seth, if you really like this girl, don't you think she likes you too? But you have to be very careful with her; her emotions will be extremely varied at the moment. Make sure your emotional involvement is returned before you cross any lines."

"Do you know what really worries me Mum? That she will never forgive me for causing the accident in the first place. I just don't know what will happen when she finds out it was all my fault."

He looked so concerned. "She might hate me," he whispered.

"Seth, I am proud of you because even though you believe you hurt this girl, you have stepped up to help her. You could have run away. You could have had nothing to do with her. But you are visiting her and you are helping her and you are doing it every single day. When she heals, all your effort will count for something. I am sure that it will."

"I sure hope so," he admitted.

"Is she your imprint Seth?" Sue the mother wanted to know that answer as well as Sue the Tribal Council member.

"I don't know… I don't think so… I mean it's not as if I can tell how she feels about me… but I didn't get any of that centre of the universe, steel cable crap like the other imprinted wolves all rave on about… I just knew I had to be on that stretch of highway… I didn't even know when to be there… I had been going there for weeks before… I don't know what it means. I just know I have to help her now."

When Sue got back to the Black house, she filled Billy in on everything she and Seth had discussed. They had quite a conversation about why it was this particular girl who had captured Seth's interest; even if she wasn't his imprint.

FF_2154210_ - 18/03/2011 04:37:00 AM

FF_2154210_ - 31/08/2011 12:15:00 AM