AN: This took a week longer than expected, sorry about that. Probably won't update next week because I need to study for my GED, I've been procrastinating and its just around the corners, so I have to hit the books, hard. I really hope you enjoy the shameless fluff waiting for you, though! :) And thank you again for all of the reviews, you are all wonderful!

Chapter Twenty

The New Way

It only took my mother fifteen minutes to just tell Anna she needed all new clothes, period. The only thing she was allowed to keep was the hoodie I gave her. Mom took the giant bag to the garage as I took Anna into the house.

"I feel the need to apologize for my over-bearing mother again." I said apologetically.

"You don't." She said shaking her head. I looked at her incredulously. "I really don't mind. It's kind of nice to know she cares." She told me with a smile.

My mother was crazy, but I had a feeling she was the kind of crazy Anna wanted. I couldn't blame her for it either, my mother was my type of crazy too. "Alright," I said with a nod.

"Anna, did you eat?" Mom asked as she came in from the garage.

"A little," Anna answered quietly. That was probably a no.

"I have to shower, but you're welcome to anything in the fridge. I'm sure Paul will take you to the store if there's something special you want." Mom told her with a wink toward me. I rolled my eyes with a growl.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, thank you." Anna said smiling.

Mom pulled Anna into a hug suddenly and held her tightly. Anna returned the gesture very awkwardly. That was my mother for you…"You're welcome Sweetie," She said in a very motherly tone.

When my mother shut the bathroom door I herded Anna into the kitchen and made her get a plate of food. She chose carrots and some spaghetti that Mom had probably made earlier and I just took a box of cereal and dumped it into the biggest bowl I could find and used half a gallon of milk on it. Anna looked at me funny for getting it, but it was my 'celebration cereal'. My mother came up with it years ago, when ever we did something good we'd take a huge bowl fill it with cereal and split it between us. It's hard to break a tradition that awesome and delicious.

After we were done with our convoluted dinner, I washed the dishes with Anna and we were left with nothing to do. It was late enough for me to sleep, but I didn't want to so I pulled the first idea I had in my head. "Want to watch TV?" I asked lamely.

She looked out at the empty living room and then back at me and nodded. "Sure," She said with a little smile.

We sat on the comfy couch together. I was going to let her take the end that had the best view, but she sat right in the middle, leaving me the good seat. I would have said something, but I remembered the only place there was really a TV for Anna was at the diner or her parents living room, so I doubted she watched much of anything.

I turned on a movie channel that was playing a decent movie. Nothing too gory, or sappy. Of course I wasn't paying the least bit of attention to it, not with Anna sitting, literally six inches away from me. I was hyper aware that I could touch her whenever I wanted, but I wasn't sure how comfortable she was with that, so I didn't. I got her to stay with me, I wasn't pushing anything for the rest of the night.

Half way through the movie she pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on them. I could tell she was getting tired. I didn't want to ask if she was, because I didn't want to leave the room, but I knew I had to. I opened my mouth to ask the dreaded question when she leaned over and rested against my shoulder.

I wasn't going anywhere now.

The rest of the movie was a blur to me because I spent the time studying Anna. She was much calmer than she had been all day and almost fell asleep a few times. When the credits started to roll and the mind-numbing music came on, she actually did fall right to sleep.

A gentleman would have removed himself and tucked her in, but I wasn't quite that guy. I picked her up and laid her on my side as I stretched out on the couch. She muttered something in her sleep and covered her face with her hands but didn't wake up.

With my arms wrapped tightly around her I closed my eyes just from being so content and soon I had fallen into a peaceful nights rest.

I hadn't slept so well since Doc Cullen had me on the super dose of pain meds. God, it was magical. It was ten times better than sex and all I did was sleep, fully clothed, with my imprint.

I didn't know what time it was when I woke up, but the sun was kind of coming through the windows, really the fog was just a little brighter, and someone was rattling around in the kitchen. Anna mewed next to me as she tightened the grip on my arm she found in her sleep. I grinned and pretended my mother wasn't making some kind of breakfast and just watched her sleep.

There wasn't a trace of a bad dream on her beautiful face, only a little bit of drool, which was damn near the cutest thing I've ever seen.

My mothers face hanging over the couch interrupted my perfect morning. "I'm going to go food shop while it's still early. You two better not have ruined my good couch when I get back." She whispered seriously, so she wouldn't wake up Anna.

"No more ruined then when you left." I countered.

"Funny," She said flatly before leaving through the garage door.

I continued to watch Anna as she slept soundly. I wondered how much longer she would sleep. I still couldn't figure how we were comfortably on the couch, but she was small enough to slip between me and the back of the couch and I would be comfortable in a tin box with her. I started brushing her hair away from her face when her eyes began to flutter. I moved my hand from her soft hair, back to her shoulder and waited for her to wake up.

She went from being entirely relaxed, to stiffening up right before she opened her eyes. Her eyes were wide and she almost looked afraid for a second.

"Morning," I said grinning.

She looked a new kind of embarrassed looking up at me, with her cheeks turning super bright red. "Did I talk in my sleep?" She asked nervously.

I could tell my arms around her were unnerving her by the way she tried to wiggle out of them so I pretended to stretch them out and folded them behind my head. "Not that I remember." I said truthfully. All I remember was her looking absolutely beautiful… God, I sound like a chick.

She let out a sigh that wasn't entirely relieved and relaxed her head on my bicep. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." She mumbled as she very cautiously placed her hand on my stomach.

I moved my lips to her forehead and kissed the warm, soft skin as I held the hand she rested on my stomach. "I don't mind." I mumbled with my lips still on her skin.

She was relaxed now that she was more awake and I let my other arm fall loosely on her, so she knew she wasn't being held down. I watched her as she stared at my hand that covered hers intently. She pulled her hand out from underneath mine for a moment and I almost frowned until she laced her fingers through mine.

Her fingers were smaller and thinner than mine and so much softer, even though she did work with her hands a lot. "Why didn't you imprint on another Quileute?" She asked quietly.

Her pale skin was a stark contrast to my warm copper skin, but I loved it. I loved the fact that her skin was almost like snow and that her hair and eyes were lighter than mine. But I could tell something about it really bothered her. "I don't know, do you have any Native blood?" I asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"My father's grandmother was full blooded Lakota." She answered casually.

"Wait - really?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, we just never inherited her genes." She said shrugging a little, sounding drearier with each syllable.

"What's wrong?" I asked seriously.

"I know your mom and the pack and their imprints accept me, but what about the rest of La Push?" She asked worryingly.

I stroked the side of her face and gripped her hand. "The people that matter to me have already accepted you, so what the rest of the people think doesn't matter." I said firmly.

She looked at me confused for a while.

"If anyone gives you problems, you tell me, and I will set them straight. You are mine, and I won't let anyone hurt you." I told her seriously, holding her tighter to me.

She giggled. "Emily was right, you are possessive." She said, smiling a little.

"Its one of my more lovable traits." I said with a grin.

She smiled wider and turned her head to my shoulder, to hide her face. With the arm she rest on, I rolled her onto my chest so I could kiss the top of her head. She let out a long breath making her entire body relax and she let me hold her, for what felt like hours. But sadly, it couldn't last for ever and she lifted herself up from my chest with a smile on her face.

"Can we get up now? I'm kind of hungry." She asked, looking between me and the ground.

"Nag, nag, nag, is this how its going to be now?" I asked as I hauled myself up and off the couch.

I offered her my hand as she looked at me with narrowed eyes. "If I wasn't afraid of your cooking skills, you'd be making me breakfast for that." She said as he took my hand.

"Hey, I have skills." I said defensively as I pulled her to her feet.

Standing a few inches in front of me she tried not to laugh. "I'm sure." She said unconvinced.

She was still a head shorter than me, but she was different from when I first saw her. Her skin looked less sallow, the dark circles were gone from her eyes and even her hair looked healthier. I felt a strong sense of pride, seeing that my presence in her life actually made it better.

I brushed her hair behind her ear gently and stroked the back of her neck. "Don't worry about anything, okay." I said seriously.

"What about shopping with your mom?" She asked with a grin.

"You can worry about that." I said as I made a face.

She laughed. "Do you have pancake mix?" She asked walking around me and into the kitchen.

I sighed and followed her. "I think so." I said as I scratched my head.

We made pancakes, bacon and eggs together for breakfast after we changed out of what we were wearing. It was way better then having to share her with my mom, or her boyfriend or anyone else. There was no rush. No school, or other people to distract her. Just me and her and a butt-ton of bacon. God, this was turning out to be the best day of my life.

We even cleaned the kitchen together, as corny as it sounds. She didn't even have to ask me to help. I'd probably clean a cemetery with her. We were alone for a grand total of almost two hours before someone had to ruin it.

We were back on the couch, she had her legs over mine while she read and I watched TV. Well, not really, whatever bullshit was on was just a pretense, I was staring at her. But the door flew open about ten minutes into our time relaxing together. "Hey, I heard you where here!" I heard Embry yell not even a second after the door opened. I groaned instantly.

Anna closed her book and looked over at him with a smile. "Hi Embry," She said surprised.

Embry shut the door behind him and walked into the living room. "He hasn't been giving you trouble, has he?" He asked with a wink.

"Not too much trouble." She said shaking her head, looking at me with a grin. I rolled my eyes at Embry.

"Well, I'll set him straight for you, if he is." He said with a nod, trying to look tough by crossing his arms over his chest. I could take that little bastard and break him into bread crumbs, but Anna liked him and that made him untouchable to my wrath. For now.

Anna looked from Embry, back to me and smiled wider. "I can handle him." She said surely.

God, she can handle me whenever she wants…

Embry laughed like a hyena on steroids and flopped onto the other couch. He tried to lounge back on the couch, but only stayed for a few seconds. After a full minute of fidgeting I had to say something.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked disgusted.

"Nothing," He muttered.

"You still haven't talked to her, have you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Who?" Anna asked confused.

"Celia," Embry mumbled quietly.

Anna's brows pulled together for a few seconds. "She's your imprint, isn't she?" She asked, even though we all knew she had already figured it out with her brilliant mind.

Embry nodded pathetically.

"I can help." She offered meekly.

"You can?" He asked hopefully, looking like a goddamn puppy that just found his long lost bone.

She nodded. "We have a project we're going to be working on soon, we could meet out here." She said looking at me questioningly. I agreed with a nod, only because if he had his own imprint to follow around, he'd stop hanging around mine so much.

"Thank you!" Embry cried, launching from the couch, grabbing Anna from my lap and hugging her. I would have hit him but Anna laughed. I growled sourly and waited for the moment that, that bastard was sharing with my imprint to end.

Just when he put her down and before I could hit him, Mom came in the front door with a broad smile on her face.

"Oh good, Embry, you're here, you can help Paul bring in all the food." Mom told us sweetly.

We both groaned, but shuffled out to the driveway and hauled in all the bags of food from her sedan.

The three of us put the food away while Mom made lunch for us all. The kitchen was crowded to say the least. After lunch Embry hung around for a little longer, trying to get more information out of Anna about Celia. I threw him out after he asked what her favorite color was. Anna gave me a disapproving look, but I shrugged it off. He was annoying me.

Mom disappeared into her room to take the call she had for work a few minutes later, which meant I only had two hours with Anna before my mother stole her away for god knows how long.

That woman could shop the rest of her life if someone let her. I hoped Anna liked shopping, or at least didn't mind it, because that would be the only way she'd survive my mothers power walking and the monologue she did whenever she was trying to chose between two items of clothing.

Just thinking about the hell my imprint would be going through for the sake of my mother made my start to twitch, so I put it as far from my mind as possible and focused on just being there with her for that moment.

Even with all my talk, I really did trust my crazy mother with Anna. She cared about her and wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I knew the reason she wanted to take Anna shopping was to give her something her mother never did. And a few weeks after this, I'd thank her for it. I have a waiting period before I can admit when my mother is right. It's an ego thing…

The two hours were up before I knew it and my mom came traipsing out of her room, grinning.

"Ready Anna?" Mom asked sounding like a kid on Christmas.

Anna nodded. "Sure," She said as she left the security of my lap.

"Can I leave my house in your care without it falling to pieces?" My mother asked me seriously.

"Maybe." I said with a grin. Mom huffed and took her purse and keys off the table and left the house. I looked down to Anna and forced myself not to lock her away with me in my room. "Bye," I mumbled.

Anna put her hands on my shoulders, stood on the tips of her toes and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her off the ground, making her squeak against my lips. Her arms curled around my neck while she sighed. I lowered her back down to the ground and she, very slowly, pulled away from me and my lips.

"I'll see you later." She murmured and squeezed my hand before she left me in the empty house with nothing to do but worry about her.

AN: Review!