AN: I am on an updating spree as I am home sick with some kind of infection and a spinal headache. Fun! Anyway, there is a silver lining to this really doom and gloom cloud. I get to finish one or two of my remaining stories. Of course, this has a while yet to go, but I did want some progression and I hope I was able to do that. :) Thanks for reading and reviewing and I hope you all don't come after me with sticks.

Chapter Twenty Six

Christmas Wishes

There was nothing like Christmas morning. I always loved it and always looked forward to it. I made the mistake of asking Anna about her previous Christmas experience and she just shrugged. God, it sucked hearing more of the shit her parents put her through. My amazing imprint never had a Christmas to speak of. But between my mother and Emily, I don't even know why I worried about it. The little bit of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was spent doing the most ungodly thing in the world, shopping.

I had plenty of invites from the guys to do something else, but I didn't want to leave Anna alone. And okay, she wouldn't be alone, but I didn't know how much my mother would try to expose her to new and exciting things that she may not be comfortable with. She had laid off the vampires, after seeing how uncomfortable Anna was but there were still lots of other things she could start with. Like gym memberships and antiquing and what ever else my mother's crazy mind could come up with.

"You don't have to come." Anna said with a sigh as I shoved my feet into my shoes. It was a few days before Christmas and they were putting the finishing touches on the presents and dinner. It was also my seventeenth shopping trip in less than a month. I was probably going to kill.

I didn't listen very well. "I'm going." I said stubbornly, trying not to growl.

She twisted her lips in that cute way and stood in front of me, holding my face to look the few inches up at her from my seated position on our bed. "Paul, please don't make me balance a treat on your nose while I walk out of here." She said pleadingly.

I'll admit, I was proud of the comment, but I still didn't want to hear it. "That's low," I said with a frown.

She laughed a little and kissed me. I picked her up by the back of the legs and made her straddle my lap and kissed her more deeply. I wasn't giving up that easy, if I wasn't going, she wasn't going. She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder.

"It won't be long, we're only going to Port Angles and Sam is going with us." She said, trying to convince me nothing bad would happen.

"So I can go, too." I countered.

"You don't like it, and its really wearing you down. Just take sometime to relax or hunt something. You're usually in a better mood when you've ripped something to shreds." She urged knowingly.

"You know me so well, I might get teary." I said stroking her jaw.

She sighed, with a laugh on her lips and looked me in the eye. "Just take some downtime." She said rubbing my shoulders, still trying to calm me down.

"I don't do downtime when you're out of my line of vision." I said seriously.

"Find something to do, I'll be back before dinner." She said as she ran her nails overt the skin of my shoulder.

"You're killing me woman." I groaned, wanting to pin her under me and never let her go.

"No, I'm not, you're just a big baby." She said with a knowing grin before she left my lap and walked toward the door, slipping into the sneakers she liked and grabbing the little purse she had.

At the door, with the black bag draped across her body, she stopped and turned to look at me. "Do not follow us!" She said firmly.

I watched her, feeling worse the further away she got from me. But I listened to her. I hated it there was a giant pull between what I wanted and what I had been told to do. I understood what it was like for a dog to be told to stay while the entire family left. It sucked.

I couldn't stay in the house, not with the smell of her everywhere. So I got dress and made my way around the Rez, walking. I didn't want to drive, again, her smell had permeated my truck. I really couldn't escape her.

I stopped by Jared house, but Kim was there and those two couldn't pay attention to anything but each others lips. I thought about going to Leah's but the thought made my gag reflex act up so I avoided her completely. Embry was still stalking his imprint, so that really only left Seth. I hated saying things like that, even when I knew it was only me in my head. It was still fucking depressing.

"Got out of shopping?" Seth asked amused as I meandered into his house and dropped onto the couch, watching him play the racing game he just borrowed from Jake.

"I was told to stay." I growled.

"And you listened." Seth asked confused.

"Can't really say no to her." I answered with a long breath.

"True," He said with a nod and we fell into silence while he played his game, which I greatly preferred.

Seth's gaming skills and company didn't distract me for long. I think it was something like ten minutes, maybe. I took up pacing his yard because he threw me out for making him lose a race when I was doing it inside.

When the first hour came around without Anna with me, I snapped. I was dialing her as soon as I felt my phone in my hands. The phone went straight to voicemail and I almost stoked out. I called my mother next, but she didn't answer either. I called Sam, promising myself if he didn't answer I was running to Port Angeles and tearing the place apart until I found her.

"She's fine Paul." He answered automatically, within the second ring.

"Why isn't she answering her phone?" I asked angrily.

"Your mother took it away while she went with Emily to find sheets." He answered with a sigh.

I felt a vein in my forehead bulge. "She's not with you!" I yelled. I was on the verge of phasing then, luckily in Seth's backyard.

"She's twenty feet away from me." Sam said flatly.

I felt a little stupid then. He did say she was with Emily and he was more likely to hang himself then let Emily out of his sights. "Can I talk to her?" I asked quietly.

"Fine," Sam grumbled.

I heard a little bit of Sam talking the background and the phone being passed around before I heard a little chuckle that I knew belonged to my Anna.

"Paul, I'm still fine. No blood loss. Still have all my limbs and still breathing on my own." She said smartly.

"Don't buy anything girly." I muttered defeated.

"Pink sheets, got it." She said before the line went dead.

If anyone else had said that to me, I would have Hulked out and probably killed, but because it was Anna, I just sighed and wished I was there with her. I wouldn't give a shit if she bought pink sheets, I just wanted to be with her.

I left Seth's after I had confirmation of Anna's life still intact and went back to my house. I was covered in mud at that point from the snow and the dirt, so I took a shower and with just boxers I dropped onto the bed I shared with Anna and started counting the minutes, the seconds really.

Everything seemed to suck without her. Before her, I could enjoy time alone like this happily, but now it practically killed me. I didn't want to be alone without her. Everyone else could fuck off, but I wanted her to stay. Being alone is okay when you don't know what its like to be with the person that makes you whole, after that being away from them is like taking out your organs and leaving them somewhere. It hurts, a lot.

With all my loneliness, I was still a little on the tired side. I still had to run my normal patrols even with the shopping and sleep wasn't easy to come by, so laying the bed, surrounded by her scent, I closed my eyes and fell asleep, with as much resistance as I could muster for the moment.

It was a few hours later when I woke up, I could tell by the darkness of the sky, and I almost went into a panic until I saw Anna was sitting on my hips. She smiled down at me, completely happy and took my hand.

"I'm sorry honey, but they didn't have pink sheets, I know your heart was set on them." She told me with mock disappointment.

I grinned and sat up. "I'll survive." I whispered huskily before I kissed her. I was possessive in my kiss, only because she had to be out of my sight and it made me even more possessive when she was away from me for any amount of time.

She wrapped her arms and legs around me and held onto me tightly. "I did miss you and your angrily sarcastic comments." She said smiled, pressing her nose against mine.

I ran my fingers through her hair, and ran my fingers over the crown of her skull. "So, I suppose I'll be coming along next time." I said smugly.

She shook her head. "I don't think there will be a next time for a while. We finished getting all of the gifts we needed." She told me as she stroked the outside of my ear.

"Thank God, or whoever else needs to be thanked here." I said with a sigh.

She laughed at me and rested her cheek against my jaw, giving me the access to take in a deep breath of her hair. She still smelled sweet, with only a hint of whatever store she had been in. I clutched the back of her neck with one of my hands and the junction of her hip and leg. She squirmed a little when I did that.

I chuckled at her and dotted small kisses across her neck. "Can we go for a walk in the snow?" She asked in a breathy voice that I couldn't say no to.

"You'll freeze." I countered, confused, trying to stay firm to my point of her freezing to death.

"Not with you." She said smugly, running her teasingly across my ribs.

She had a point, like always. "Might want to bundle up." I said with a grin and kissed her fully on the mouth before picking her up and moving her next to me so I could get up and put on pants, a long-sleeved shirt and boots. None of which I needed but just to make sure people didn't start freaking out about it, I did it.

We exited my room and my mom saw us. I groaned quickly.

"Paul! Come here for a second." She said with an order.

"Anna wants to go for a walk." I snapped back.

"It will only take a second and she still has to put her boots and jackets on." My mother said rolling her eyes as she walked up to me and grabbed my head, dragging me to her room and shutting the door.

"What?" I asked gruffly.

She had started digging through her jewelry box and was ignoring me. I was considering leaving when she finally stopped and looked at me.

"Now, I didn't give this to you sooner because we were all caught up in the drama, but I feel that you're going to need this, probably soon and I wanted you to have it before I left." She said with a very sneaky smile as she dropped her engagement ring into my hand.

It was old, it had been passed down through the family for decades. My father had the stone replaced and then after he left my mom replaced it again. The ring had a light pink pearl in its setting and had an old swirling design around its band. I could already see it on Anna's finger and my mouth went dry.

I heard my mother chuckle and she patted my shoulder to snap me from my trance. "Thanks," I muttered, feeling awkward.

She smiled in that motherly way and hugged me like I was still a little kid. "Make her happy Paul, you both deserve it." She told me as she smoothed my hair then kissed my cheek and left her room.

I was standing there, stunned for a while because she had really dropped that on me. Sure I had known since I saw Anna that I would be with her forever, but I did I really keep that in my mind at all times? No. Did I make the connection to marriage? No. I'm not the smartest guy on the block.

"Paul?" I heard Anna asked concerned from behind me and I scrambled to put the ring in my pocket.

"Yeah?" I asked turning around too fast.

"Are you okay?" She asked confused.

"Um, yeah, just my mom being weird. Ready?" I told her shaking it off, pretty smoothly.

"Yes," She said with a smile and she looped her arm around mine and started pulling me out of the house.

As we passed through the kitchen to go out the back door my mom gave me a knowing grin and said something to Anna that I couldn't really hear before we left the house through the back door. Anna took me to the backyard and started to the woods. She liked the woods, even in sopping snow and no leaves.

As I lifted her over a fallen log and she giggled and squeezed my hand when she was on the ground again, I was completely aware of the unassuming ring in my pocket, burning a hole straight to my heart.

AN: Review!