I knocked once before opening the cottage door. "Hello? I heard there were some babies here?"
"Mom!" Didi ran to hug me.
I hugged her, wondering why her arms were empty. "Where is he?"
She rolled her eyes. "Sleeping with Emily. Come on in. Good to see you, Dad." She moved to Marcus as I stepped over the threshold.
"Mom! You got old!" Aaron sat next to Laura, his wife, with his arm around her.
"Shut it, Brat." Just because there was a little more grey in my hair didn't mean anything. His wife looked older than he did, too. Just not as old as me. "What did Grandma Nessie say?"
"Not to call her Grandma." Ephraim came out carrying Emily. The plump six month old cried loudly, scrunching up her pink face.
Laura rose to take her daughter. "Hungry, is she?" She settled into a chair and lifted her shirt.
"Fine," I told Ephraim.
"She says Dad shouldn't hold them," Didi explained. "She's worried about setting off the gene. She thinks that's what happened to Ephraim."
Both babies, Aaron's daughter and Didi's son, were perfectly normal, human, well Quileute.
Marcus nodded sadly. I gave his hand a squeeze. "But we can see them, right?" I verified.
"Of course!" Didi chimed, leading us in the direction Ephraim had come, to the nursery. She opened the door.
Henry William Black lay on his back, kicking. The two month old wasn't asleep, and I ran to pick him up. "Billy! How are you, baby?" I curled him into my arm as I had his mother decades ago.
Didi ran a hand through my hair. "When did you phase last?"
I didn't answer, bringing the baby near enough to see Marcus. "This is your Grandpa. You probably won't get to see much of us, but we love you very much."
Marcus held a hand over the baby's black topped head. "Very much," he murmured.
I turned back to Didi, holding Billy - as they called him - out to her.
"You can hold him, Mom."
I wrapped my arms around Marcus once she had taken the baby. "I will."
Didi nodded and slipped past us, closing us alone in the nursery.
"I have a grandson. And a granddaughter." His voice was full of awe. "Normal, human babies. Who will never thirst for blood, never cringe on a sunny day."
I met his eye now, his brilliant smile. "I'm sorry you can't hold them."
"I'm not. Not if they can have a normal, full life."
I hugged him again. He lifted his hand and traced the lines at the corners of my eyes.
"I will. With Aaron and Eph," I told him. I didn't mind being part of their pack.
"Not for me. Don't do it for me." He ran his fingers through my hair as well, down to the middle of my back. I'd stopped cutting it when I stopped phasing regularly. It was about the same time Didi and Ephraim had married.
"Are you sure? I don't want you feeling left out." I was referring to the babies again. Whether or not I phased was up to me.
He shook his head. "They are beautiful babies, but they don't smell good." He wore a sheepish smile.
I laughed and pulled his face down for a kiss; it lingered. We might be having 'old people' sex, but my husband could still push all the right buttons.
He looked a couple decades younger than me now. I tried not to let it bother me, most easily by avoiding mirrors. My shape hadn't changed, so unless my greying hair came over my shoulder, I could forget that I looked closer to fifty than twenty-five.
He pulled his face away, and I relaxed my grip on his waistband, pulling my hand from inside his shirt. His hand was cupping my rear as the other held my neck.
"I'm going to need another room soon," he complained.
I hitched my leg over his hip. "Why is that?"
"Because you like a bed." He lifted me onto his waist, pressing his erection into me.
"This works for me."
He growled and unfastened our pants in seconds. "You realize our grandson sleeps in this room?"
"You realize our children can hear us right now. Shut up and take me." The sooner begun...
He did just that, pulling me from him to remove my pants. His were already at his ankles. He turned, pinning me to the door with his body.
"Yes," I murmured. I'd cooled enough that he didn't feel icy cold any longer. He still made me tingle with a touch.
His mouth found my throat as he buried himself in me. My breath caught and I fought to keep myself to a quiet moan. Laura didn't need to hear me.
Marcus moved his lips up to my neck, licking my scar. "You feel so good." He pulled from me only to plunge deeply again.
My head fell back to the door with a soft thump. He took three more long, slow strokes until I felt myself starting to squeeze on him and tightened my grip on his shoulders. I bit his lip, held between my teeth, and he sped up.
Whining cries escaped me. My body hummed. "Please tell me you're close," I whispered.
"Yes," he hissed, moving a little faster, a little more forcefully. My hips banged against the door, hard. I'd be bruised, but not broken. My climax stretched as he pressed full into me, his face tight with his own orgasm.
He opened dark eyes to mine. "I hope you don't get too old for this," he murmured as he helped me find my feet again.
"I hope for the same." He smiled, smoothing my hair and passing me my pants.
As soon as we opened the door, Aaron burst through. "Emily needs a change."
I plucked the baby from him. "Let me." Marcus followed me to the change table.
"You two seriously just had sex in the nursery?" he asked in shock.
"Yes, would you have liked to have watched?" I snapped.
"Leah," Marcus growled. I considered testing him. We hadn't had a good fight in months. I thought better of it. Knowing me, I'd need it more after I phased; it tended to make me irritable. I bowed my head and returned to Emily.
"Like I won't get to if you phase later."
I spun, my arm out to slap Aaron. Marcus grabbed my wrist, squeezing tightly, just short of real pain.
"Aaron," Marcus said coldly. His other hand was on Emily's torso, preventing her from rolling or squirming. "Apologize to your mother."
I pulled my hand back and Marcus let go. I turned back to the table, fixing Emily's diaper in place.
"Sorry, Mom. I was just teasing."
"I'm sorry I tried to hit you, Aaron. Would you like your daughter back?" I held her out to him.
"Not really," he said with a goofy grin. "I was hoping I could borrow the nursery."
"We have other rooms!" Ephraim called from the living area. "Ones with beds."
Laura was at the door with her hands on her hips. "What have you been telling them?"
"I told them nothing. I'm looking for a sitter to get some time alone with my wife." His voice turned to a growl at the end.
I chuckled, pulling Emily back to my chest. "Well, you have one. Didi, as long as you have milk, I'll take Billy, too."
She poked her head in the door. "It's in the freezer. Thanks, Mom."
"Anytime at all." I grinned taking Billy in my other arm. "Just like old times. Except this baby isn't trying to wriggle out of my grip." I put my nose to Billy's tiny one, rubbing it from side to side. Aaron was never easy to hold. Trying to carry both at once had been nearly impossible.
"Thanks, Mom." Aaron kissed my cheek, tossed his wife over his shoulder, and ran from the door. Laura screamed and kicked a little, though not fighting very hard.
"Yeah, thanks, Mom." Didi kissed my cheek and then hugged Marcus. "I'm so sorry you can't hold them, Dad. They'll love you anyway, you know that."
"I do," he said with a smile, kissing Didi's cheek now. "Go on; enjoy yourself."
There was a bear roar, and then a bear, Ephraim, bowled Didi over and ran from the room.
I chuckled. "Come, my sweets. Tummy time with Grandpa." I put them side by side on the rug in the living room where Marcus and I sat and watched for hours.
a/n: for obvious reasons this next section is in the third person.
Dark skinned people circled the pile of deadwood. A few very pale figures stood apart from them, in a group. A man and woman, both with black hair, brown skin and blue eyes held a swaddled body between them. The corpse's face was deeply lined, her hair grey. Her russet skin had paled slightly with advanced age. The woman at her head and man at her feet lifted her onto the pyre.
Didyme kissed her mother's forehead. "Goodbye, Mom." A tear from from her face fell onto Leah's.
Aaron came to his sister's side, kissing her cheek first, and then his mother's. "We will remember you. And you will live, in all of these." He threw his arm wide, taking in all of her descendants. Grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren. None of them knew the pale-skinned people who stood with them, three women and two men. Chelsea clung to Marcus, feeling the absence of the connection between the two of them. Suplicia tried to weep, unsuccessfully, into Renata's breast. She had detested Leah every day they had spent together, but that hatred had given her drive; she missed it now. Alec stood, stoic, waiting for the end.
Ephraim came forward to Didi's side. Taking her hand, he wrapped it around a torch he carried. "Sister. You fought bravely. You protected your tribe and the tribes of others. You were a friend to those who would hate you. You were a comfort to those who had none. You have lived long, loved long, and you deserve the rest you have found. The Creator welcome you to His hunting grounds."
Didi's put the torch to the tinder at the head of the pyre. She gave it to Aaron who did the same at the foot. As the flame and smoke rose the assembly let out a ululating cry.
The youngest of those assembled began to depart. Didi and Aaron came to their father, hugging him on either side. Chelsea stepped away for them, taking Ephraim's hand instead.
"She counted you her best friend," Ephraim told her.
"She was. And she thought of you as her own son."
He nodded gravely, smiling wanly.
Marcus held his head up. It had been bowed since the ceremony began. The immediate family were the only ones left in the clearing. Leah's pall had burned, but the pyre was still fully formed. He kissed each of his children. "Goodbye," he whispered.
Didi wept, into his shoulder. "Goodbye, Dad. We love you."
"Don't do this," Aaron growled.
"You will understand. Your wives have been good to you, but none has been what she is to me. One day." He clapped Aaron's shoulder again and pulled away from him.
"No! Dad!" Aaron yelled, but Ephraim blocked his way.
"You knew this would come. Let him have this."
Aaron's jaw worked and then he ran from the clearing.
"He's really going to do it?" Suplicia asked.
They all watched as Marcus climbed into the fire, laying beside his wife one last time. He burned more quickly than she did. He started to writhe, nearly rolling off the bed of flames.
"Peace," Alec whispered, and Marcus stilled, his arms tight around the corpse.
Marcus sighed as the burn soothed away the last of his hurt. Then everything went black.