AN: First off, thank you for all the reviews! Sadly I didn't win any of the awards this story was up for, but it truly was an honor to be nominated. :) This chapter is back to Paul's point of view and soon all will be revealed to Anna! I'll have a link for Kevin on my profile ASAP and I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

Carry On

I never thought I'd be able to leave her at that house again. But I managed somehow. I think it was because I had her for more than a day without having to give her back to her parents. I didn't get very far from her house though. I parked my truck in the same spot in the woods I always did and phased then snuck around to the woods behind her shed.

She was unpacking her backpack glumly when I got back to her. Her idiot parents were in the house and I would be fine so long as they stayed away at least until Sunday. I can easily convince the pack to turn the assholes into wolf food if they do anything to her again. Shit, Emily will probably help.

My plans to get elder Roland's to disappear were halted when I saw Anna pull my hoodie out from under her cot and quickly tug it on. She went from downtrodden to happily content in seconds flat. Damn, I'm so good my clothes can make her happy. I should be getting that award for best almost-boyfriend any day now.

Yes, stalking is completely romantic and definitely one quality all women look for in men. Leah commented snidely. It's not fair that the girl has the ability to 'sneak phase'. There are something's that are sacred!

Yeah and all guys want a snarky-stuck-up-bitch to spend forever with. I retorted.

I knew that my comeback hurt her, and pretty deep too, but she doesn't expect pity from me and if she does then she needs to be institutionalized because only Anna gets my pity and they don't look anything alike… Quil needs you to cover his patrol tonight. Her voice was quieter than it had been and a hint angrier.

I focused back on Anna when she mentioned patrolling. Try not to completely loose your temper with her Paul. Why?

Claire has the chicken pox and he's the only one that can take care of her. She answered annoyed. Damn Claire and her weirdo parents who never had the stupid chicken pox…

Dammit! I cursed loudly.

Anna was back to doing her homework and there wasn't any sign of sadness on her face. Her father was snoring and her mother was at the brink of passing out herself. I could leave her. I don't want to but its possible. Besides, if I do this for Quil I can get him to cover for me if I ever get her out to the Rez other than her days off.

I growled lowly and backed away from Anna's shed. Fine, but that bastard owes me!

Tell him that! Leah roared.

Yeah, Quil more than owes me for covering his patrol, not to mention doing it with crabby ass. I spent four hours running with Leah's voice ringing through my head while we irritated each other. She was pissed because all I could think about was Anna and I was pissed just because I could be.

After our patrol Leah ran off somewhere and I went back to Anna's shed to check on her. It was almost midnight she was still nose deep in books, but her mood was still a good one and the drunkard parents were out cold. I stayed anyway since I didn't have any orders from Sam or my mother and really, when would I ever pass up a chance to be with Anna? Okay, so I'm not really with her but I'm close enough, watching out for her because she means more to me than my own life.

Not long after I had gotten there she started to yawn. It only took two more minutes before she was abandoning her books and crawling into her bed, still in my hoodie. She didn't toss and turn as much as she usually did, but it took her a while to fall asleep. Half an hour later, I was sure she was settled into a deep sleep and her cheeks were pink with warmth, I could finally relax. I thought about going back home for a spilt second because it had started to rain but laying in the cold mud behind Anna's shed was always more appealing than a warm, dry, bed without her.

I slept about as well as any creature did in sopping dirt that night. Anna woke up to an alarm clock rather than a nightmare and I was eternally grateful for that. The rain had also lessened to a light mist but it was still enough to make my imprint shiver when she went into the house for her morning shower. She left the house at her normal time and I followed her to her school.

She had gotten even more wet by a few passing cars on the way. I still had the over whelming urge to flip them down the side of a mountain, but I didn't. I was proud of myself. I left her at the high school where she retreated to the warm buildings for the next few hours. From there I ran back to my truck and drove back home, as usual.

After my shower I didn't want to go to school, I wanted to go check on Anna, but if I didn't Sam would gladly send Leah after my ass. School is safer. My classes were particularly boring and didn't hold any kind of new information that would help me succeed in life. They were just a complete waste of time, but isn't that what high school is supposed to be?

When I finished my last class I was going to drive back down to the high school and sleep in the parking lot until Anna got out then follow her to the diner. Like any other normal person. But Sam was waiting for me.

"What?" I asked annoyed.

"Anna stayed the night?" He asked pointedly.

My hands clenched automatically to stop myself from lashing out. "She slept on the couch and her parents are still alive, what more do you want from me?!" I ground out.

He sighed and backed down a little. There were too many witnesses for him to try and interrogate me further, not like anyone here would report it. Everyone on the Rez knew Sam was one of the 'golden boys'. I barely retained the title myself. "When are you going to tell her the truth?"He asked curiously.

"I don't know, it's not like I have that many 'wolf-out-of-the-bag' experiences to draw wisdom from. You sent Em to the hospital, Kim could care less because all she wanted was Jared, Claire is too young to understand, Embry still doesn't have the balls to talk to his imprint and Jake managed to imprint on the mutant spawn of our sworn enemies." I ranted angrily. It was true. I didn't have a normal experience to pull inspiration from.

"It's a cold day in hell when you're the normal one." He said laughingly.

"Yeah," I grumbled. Sam chuckled to himself for a few seconds and I figured it would be the best to time to tell him about the news my mom had. "Uh, my mom is moving to Seattle for a promotion." I told him awkwardly. His eyes went wide and he went to say something about it. "I'm not going, she's leaving me the house. I was thinking about getting a roommate." I said with a shrug.

Sam let out a heavy breath and nodded. "Embry has a part time job lined up once he finishes school, you two could help each other with your pale-face imprints." He said teasingly.

"Shut up," I said as I shoved him.

"Of course that wouldn't be conducive to romancing Anna if you ever manage to tell her the truth." He said grinning even more.

"It's a delicate situation!" I yelled, resisting the urge to kill him. I really didn't like being made-fun-of.

"And your hands are the wrong ones to deal with it." He muttered knowingly.

I slumped. "I know, either way I'm screwed." I grumbled.

"You'll figure it out." He said surely, patting my back. I grunted before he spoke again. "Your mom wants you home." He said, still trying not to laugh.

"What?" I asked confused. She should be at work.

"She asked me to pass the message along." He answered with a shrug.

I growled. "Fine," I shoved him away from my truck and climbed into the driver's seat.

I drove off watching Sam in my rearview mirror as he walked back into the woods, wondering what he was doing at my house. I could get the answer the next time we phased but I had to go home to figure out what the hell my mother was doing home in the middle of the day.

In the driveway at my house was my mom's car and a shiny black sports car that looked like it cost more than everything in my entire house. I parked in the lawn and strode up the door where I could smell someone else in the house with my mother. I barged in and found my mother cuddling with a dark haired guy.

"Mom?" I asked trying not to growl.

Mom jumped up and spun to look at me. "Paul! This is Kevin, my boyfriend." She said quickly as the guy stood. He was a few inches shorter than me and in a suit. My mother has bad taste.

"I'm leaving." I said lowly, turning to leave.

"Hold your horses!" She yelled before I could take a step.

"Dana, it's alright, I know this is an awkward situation for young men." Kevin shut your mouth before you lose it!

I tried my hardest not to hit the idiot. "I'm really not in the mood for this." I ground out.

She could tell I was about to lash out at something and her boyfriend was the perfect target. "I have a great idea! We can go out to dinner later, there is a diner down in Forks with really good burgers." She was looking at me with knowing grin and knew she was talking about the diner Anna worked at. She's a lot smarter than I give her credit for.

I wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to see Anna, no matter the circumstances. "Fine, but I have homework." I said unclenching a little.

"You've got until five-thirty, why don't you go to Sam's for a little peace and quiet." She said inching closer Kevin. Please God don't let them do anything in the kitchen…

"Yeah, because Seth and Embry's farting contests are the soundtrack to peace and quiet." I grumbled, walking back out to my truck before the urge to hit my mothers pretty-boy boyfriend came back.

I went to Sam's like Mom had told me to but the house was empty, save for Embry who was using the house to hide out because he was certain he made his imprints father suspicious, who happens to be a newly retired Marine and about as big as Jared. Embry could still win in a fight, but it would probably be a close one.

I pretended to do homework up until fifteen minutes before Mom wanted to leave for the diner. I drove back home and Kevin's black sports car was still in the driveway. Pretentious asshole. The only reason I'm doing this is because I get to see Anna again. And without having to worry about getting caught stalking her. Mom came out as soon as I pulled in and she told me to go ahead and they would meet me in a few minutes. I think she knew I would be in a better mood if I spent some time with Anna before dinner with her and Kevin. Which was very true. I might not even hit him.

At the diner I took the first parking spot I could find then as calmly as I could I went into the diner. The first thing my eyes laid on was Anna wiping down one of the front tables. I felt instantly relieved and walked up to her.

"Hey," I said trying not to smile to broadly. I didn't want to look like a clown or something…

She spun quickly to look at me. "Hi," She gasped. "What are you doing here?" She asked confused.

"Meeting my mom for dinner with her boyfriend." I answered none too happy, even with her.

Her eyes went wide. "Oh," She mumbled knowingly.

"It's as weird as it sounds." I grumbled sourly.

She sighed and picked up her bin. "Good luck, I suppose." She offered awkwardly with a shrug.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need it." I grumbled, stuffing my hand in my pockets so I wouldn't smooth down the stray hairs that settled around her eyes.

She gave me her usual small smile and went back to her busing duties. I wanted to follow her around the diner and try to get more of a conversation out of her, but the table I liked near the kitchen was empty and the dinner rush was coming in so I sat down before anyone else did.

My mother and Kevin showed up five minutes later and sat across from me. "Paul," She said warningly, glancing at her boyfriend.

"Mom," I said through my teeth. Kevin looked extremely uncomfortable, like he should be.

A waitress bounded up to us as soon as they had sat down. "Hello, my name is Brittany, what can I get you today?"

The perky blonde took our orders and bounced off into the kitchen. Mom tried to pull me into a conversation but I was only looking in Anna's direction. Kevin didn't have anything important, or even impressive to say so there was no reason to take any of my attention from Anna to him. My mother didn't like that, but she didn't say anything. She knew the only reason I was in the same room with them was because Anna was in the room too.

She sighed got up from the booth. "Excuse me," She said, walking toward the bathroom. "Behave," She whispered to me as she passed me.

With my mother gone I had even less of a reason to acknowledge Kevin so I focused all of my attention on Anna as she tried to carry a full bin of dishes to the kitchen.

"You like her." He noted smugly.

"If you like your eyes, Kevin, you'll shut up." I snarled lowly, continuing to watch Anna as she struggled with the bin.

Kevin turned whiter than the walls and didn't get any color back until my mother came back a few minutes later. "What did you say?" She yelled frustrated when she saw her much paler boyfriend.

I took my eyes off Anna to look at my mother, who loomed over me. She only accomplished this because I was sitting but I still feared for my hide. "He's asked a stupid question." I answered simply.

I could see the same fury I would get in my own eye. People who didn't know my mother thought I got my anger from my father. God were they wrong, and if they could see her now they would probably be amazed but would understand. "Kevin, ignore him please, my son is infernally grumpy especially when it comes to the little mouse over there." She said nodding back toward Anna as she lowered herself back down to Kevin's side.

"She has a name Mom." I bit out. She liked Anna, she was just being a bitch to try and set me in my place.

"And I'm sure you have manners. Use them!" She snapped. Kevin was looking more and more nervous by the second. My guess is he was waiting for the battle to ensue. "Don't make me threaten your tutoring time." She threatened seriously.

Dammit! This must be what Superman feels like around kryptonite. "I apologize." I forced out through my teeth.

"Thank you." She said victoriously.

The perky and oblivious blonde, whose name I've already forgotten, came up to the table with a tray full of our dinners. "Here are your burgers!" She said happily. We all looked at her, wondering what kind of drugs she was on to make her so god damned chipper.

It was horrible. God, I thought I've been through bad stuff in my life but two days with my mother and her boyfriend was freaking terrible. I couldn't slip off and go with the pack because Mom wanted me to bond with Kevin. Eating a meal or two with him and forcing me through a movie with him doesn't count as bonding. Ever.

I had to run my patrols at night, without waking up her precious Kevin, which wasn't hard since he slept like the dead. None of the pack was allowed over either since she couldn't trust them to keep their mouths shut. I had to be as normal as I could be, but she didn't try to tell me not to check on Anna. Which is the only reason I tried to be civil… ish.

Thursday night was turning out to be as tense as Wednesday when Kevin tried to get all of us to play Scrabble. Seeing as how I'm barely passing English and that I hate the subject, my mother didn't object when I left the living room. It was only nine-o'clock and I wanted to go see Anna, but Mom had asked me to wait until Kevin was sleeping.

So I laid in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, imagining Anna's face smiling down at me. It didn't help my mood. Imagining her and seeing her are two different things. My cell phone started to ring a second later and I answered it tiringly.

"Hello?" I asked lazily, rubbing my eyes with my free hand.

There was a heavy breath on the other line that didn't sound like any of my brothers. It didn't even sound like a guy. "Paul?" The familiar, angelic voice asked questioningly.

I snapped up in my bed, clutching the phone to my ear, trying my hardest not to crush it. "Anna?" I asked forcing the fear, elation and confusion from my voice.

AN: Review! :D