DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.
I don't own Marmite, and make no profit from it, but all the mentions of it are also dedicated to badwolfrose...

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

"I hoped you'd know." He said to the pair of us, never taking his eyes from my face, I knew he was talking to me.

I didn't.

-x-

Max's POV

Seth had abandoned me. Ok, well, Jake was there, and I vaguely knew Paul now, but I really could have done with my wolf-boy standing beside me, telling me who everyone was and what they were like, rather than these two - Instead of Seth, I had Paul on one side, who everyone seemed to call 'anger management' and Jake, who seemed more interested in the food I had left ready on the table, on my other, half paying attention, half salivating over the steak.

"This is Jared," Paul introduced me to the taller-than-Seth-but-shorter-than-him, dark eyed guy with the wide smile and the pretty girl on his arm, "and Kim." Jared nodded and smiled at me, I felt my face heat up again.

"Hi," the girl looked enthralled at having a new face on the scene, "You cooked all this?" Jake had obviously mentioned dinner was on me, "it looks really good."

"Thanks," I blushed and looked away.

"You're English?" she seemed stunned, "That's way cool!"

"Again, thanks," I smiled, blushing darkly. I was saved by the introduction of the terrifying height that was Sam Uley. His hand enveloped mine in a searing warmth- hotter than Seth's hand, even. I blushed and shook his hand back, gasping as he released me.

"You alright, English?" Jake laughed and I nodded. "His hand is pretty hot, actually…" Jake paused, "Must be all the wolf blood." He laughed, and I grinned nervously back.

"You're Max, then?" Sam grinned, "Emily can't wait to meet you," I looked at him, cocking my head slightly, "My wife - she's really excited about having a new girl for the pack-" My blush stopped him in his tracks. "You're shy as well!" he laughed and shook his head, "interesting." He turned to Jake, "I'm kinda surprised about that… Seth never seemed the type-," His stomach literally growled and I jumped.

"I will never get used to that," I said softly to Jacob as Sam wandered in the direction of dinner.

"You will... Eventually," I turned at the soft voice, emanating calm and happiness, gasping at the sight of her face. She blushed and I must have matched and surpassed her colour, because she was grinning within seconds. "I'm Emily." I was too embarrassed to speak.

"Maxxie," Jake elbowed me and I blushed pinker. "This is Max, who has apparently decided to go mute, Em,"

"Hi…" she smiled as I squeaked the words out, "I'm Max," she nodded and laid her hand on my arm carefully.

"I'll look after you," she smiled at me, Jacob grinned at her and Paul stepped away, going to eat.

"Thanks," I smiled. "So... You're Sam's wife?" she nodded, "and, uh...-" I didn't really want to say it, instead offering a nervous gesture. She knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Yeah, it was... Sam didn't have a lot of control when he was younger," She said softly, smiling slightly, "I got in his way," a small moment of silence, "it's not a regular thing, of course, just a complete accident, Sam still beats himself up about it…" My silence finally broke with a squeak as the door burst open behind her.

The squeak turned into a yelp of horror as a pair of wolves greeted me. My eyes went wide and I stared as they threw themselves through the door, the frame creaking loudly as one got their shoulder caught.

"Guys," Emily was grinning wildly, "Phase back, please. We've got a lovely dinner here, and I don't want you guys spoiling it." They nodded, backed out of the room as two hulking wolves, and reappeared, laughing, five minutes later, as two hulking teenage boys. "Apologise to Max, please."

"Hi!" I looked at the one who had spoken; he had a handsome face, bright eyes and a ridiculous amount of long hair. "I'm Brady, this is Collin," I looked between them and grinned. It was hard not to feel utterly at home between the three of them - Emily smiling incessantly, and these two laughing like lunatics all the time was something close to how home used to be, before the bike crash.

"Hi." I returned, finding a smile on my face before I could stop it. "I'm Mackenzie."

"We're sorry for scaring you." They grinned, speaking simultaneously and I laughed loudly, I think hysteria was starting to take over. "Thank you for dinner-"

"How'd you know I cooked it?"

"Jake can't cook." They chorused, bowling off into the dining room and helping themselves.

"You know, we could go and eat," Emily offered, "Quil and Embry shouldn't be long, and Claire's not coming tonight-"

"Claire?"

"Quil's imprint. She's only eight," My face must have fallen, gone pink, because she hurriedly tried to explain, "I-imprinting doesn't necessarily mean love." she paused, "Well, it is love, but not… love… it's platonic." She explained, my head was swimming still, "if she wants him as… a lover, it'll be when she needs it, right now he's like her protector, her big brother, you know?"

It made sense, perfect sense, of course it did - that must have been why Seth was so desperate to please me, to look after me, so concerned, so obsessed… I blinked, nodded and smiled.

"Makes perfect sense." I replied.

"Cool." she nodded, "Come on, or everything will be gone."

"I doubt it. I made enough to feed a small army." I ate my words as I went through the doorway, looking at the plates of food… well, the plates that used to be full of food. There were maybe three steaks left, a couple of chicken breasts and three quarters of the bowl of pasta. "I think I'll go make some more… if there are ten more of you coming-"

"Plus imprints," Jacob politely reminded me through a mouthful of what used to be steak, "don't forget."

"How could I?" I said under my breath, Collin howled with laughter and I blushed again.

"You're funny, you are." He laughed, "'Specially your accent…"

"Oh, thanks." I smirked back, "I happen to think your accent," I thickened the received pronunciation to my best Queen's English, "Is terribly amu-sing as well," Jacob was now giggling loudly, his mouth hanging open, "My dear American friend."

"I love this girl," Collin was still laughing, "Damn, it's a pity Seth's in my way."

"You shut your trap now," I said defensively, Collin's laughter dropped away and he grinned sheepishly. I returned the smile and he poked his tongue out. The laughter returned as Jacob half-choked on whatever he was still shovelling into his mouth.

"Jacob!" Emily reprimanded him suddenly, "Eat with your mouth closed, please, and leave some for the rest of us!" She looked across at Sam and Jared, "That goes for you too." A small pause, she passed the pasta over to me.

All hell broke loose at that precise moment. There was a small flick of sound, and I felt a splatter of something hit my head. Jared growled at Jacob, his face smeared with uneaten pasta sauce, and then retaliated with a handful of half-eaten chips.

"Fries, Jared?" Sam groaned as Brady took a shot at Collin and Emily looked at me, jerking her head for us to leave the room. I willingly agreed, taking the still-nearly-full bowl of pasta with me. Kim appeared in the kitchen moments later, her face tomato-smeared, but her eyes bright with laughter.

"Does every dinner end like this?" I managed to get out when Kim had finished her explosion of giggles. "I mean, with the food fights and stuff?"

"Usually slightly less jovial fights," A small pause, "You've got sauce in your hair." Emily threw a kitchen towel to me and I soaked it, trying to get the chunks of tomato out. Any further extension of the conversation was halted by the arrival of two more hulking blokes, about six foot five each.

"Who's this lovely lady then?" One shoved the other, laughing, "I was talking about her, not you!"

"Damn you, Embry, I thought I was in there!"

"Well, Quil, I'll just let Claire-bear know all about our little love affair, then, shall-"

"Say a word, and I'll rip you to shreds," The taller one laughed at the stockier one's reaction, I assumed the latter was Quil, his hand had a small scratch on it, it was healing before I could blink.

"You must be Quil?" I offered, "And Embry?"

"Oh, I see our reputation precedes us, my dear boy," Embry altered his accent to a stereotypical British one. "Terribly, uh, Spiffing to meet you…" His accent dropped, "Yeah, that's about right…"

"Close enough."

"I bet I can pull a better one!" Quil shoved Embry to the side and Emily made a small noise of aggravation. "Yes, my dear?" his accent was strikingly bad.

"Uh, Quil?" I offered kindly, "That's Australian. You kind of suck at accents. Even your American one stinks."

"I'd like to see you try and match mine." I bit my lip. Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut sometimes? "Ha, exactly!"

"Well, dude, it's like, totally close," I tried my best, and Emily and Kim burst out laughing. I made a face, went bright pink and shut my mouth.

"You totally suck at American accents too!" Quil grinned and grabbed me in a hug. I stiffened slightly, surprised by the sudden contact. He laughed and patted the top of my head; Embry stole me, grabbed me and hugged me. I was getting used to the random whims of the werewolves now.

"Is there anything we can eat?!" Embry butted in suddenly, "We've been on patrol all afternoon, and we're hungry-"

"Go see what's left in there," Emily said, a small smile on her face. They raced into the dining room, surging back out seconds later, covered in potato, steak and general foodstuffs.

"So… not a lot then?" I grinned; Embry dragged a hand through his hair, ending up with a handful of huge, cooling mashed potato. "Eurgh." I made the noise without thinking as he ate it from his hand. "That's nasty!"

"Actually, it's pretty decent." He said it so simply that I grinned and thanked him profusely. "Although it is a bit cold."

"Ha-ha, very funny."

I looked up as the door burst open, expecting to see another wolf, or Billy Black appearing with one of the people from Forks helping him in.

Seth flew through the door, grinned at Embry and Quil, pulled me into his arms and kissed me gently on the lips. I barely had time to register the flipping and cartwheeling in my stomach before he had thrust a bag into my hand and disappeared into the dining room. I looked at Emily, she shrugged, Embry and Quil had followed him into the brawl and, laughing, gotten stuck in.

I looked at Kim, she shrugged too, and I decided I should see what on earth was going on. I put the bag on the counter and followed my Wolf-boy into the fray.

The food fight had finished, Collin and Brady looked the most disgusting, Jake not far behind them. It looked like Jared had taken refuge under the table with his plate, only surfacing now as Kim cleared her throat and shook her head.

"You guys are filthy," Seth grinned as he saw me, though looked disappointed that he had missed the fun. He contented himself with filling his plate with the remnants of the dinner I'd made, shovelling it into his mouth without saying a word. When he'd finished - which only took about thirty seconds, can I add - he looked up at Paul and Sam and grinned, "Where are the others?"

"Patrol." The single word made Seth stiffen in his seat. He reached for his drink slowly, his face falling slightly. "Don't forget, you're on tonight. Ten till eight…"

"Ten hours? That's a little harsh, Paul,"

"He copped off early a couple days ago, didn't he?" Paul growled, shooting a look at me, "I mean, he had his reasons, but… we did our bit." Seth nodded and turned to me, half-smiling.

"I'll not be coming home tonight, Mackenzie," He said softly, I was suddenly hyper-aware of everyone in the room staring at me. Seth shot a quick look at Jacob, who nodded slightly, "You can stay here, if you want?"

"We were gonna play cards, anyway, Max." Emily spoke. I jolted, having not realised she had followed me into the room.

"I got something for you- in the bag, as well," Seth said, "It's… well, it's not much, but I think it might make you feel a little more at home." I blushed and looked at him, cocking my head in a silent question. He shrugged. "I… it's an early birthday present."

"I said you don't have to get me anything." I said, the others were watching me carefully now, Quil had his arms folded, leaning on Jacob's shoulders. "I'm fine. It'll just be a…" waste of your money on someone who doesn't deserve it. I didn't say it. I knew I would have hurt him if I had.

"It's nothing, really…" He smiled at me, biting his lip, "Anyway, I think you'll be happy with it." He mumbled something else, but I didn't press him for it - he looked so heartbroken at me telling him he'd done something unnecessary just to make me happy. I was happy… I am happy.

I didn't go and get the bag until Seth had kissed me swiftly on the cheek and left with Brady and Paul, and the others were sitting around the dining table playing blackjack - my luck had run out during the first game, and I was desperate for a drink.

The bag was taunting me, almost calling my name, and I tore it open without thinking. The animalistic tendencies of my new friends, I played with the word for a second, deciding I preferred family, because that's how they had accepted me, how they had taken me in. I had been an outsider for all of thirty seconds; their tendencies had rubbed off on me in just one evening.

I pulled it open, tearing it half to shreds. Inside was an envelope with my name on it and a large jar of marmite. I smiled to myself, feeling my eyes starting to water.

"Silly sod," I murmured to myself, sniffing and blushing about such a simple gesture. I put the card back in the bag and opened the jar, finding the half-eaten loaf of bread from earlier and buttering a couple of slices.

"What're you eating?" Quil's voice made me jump, I turned around and smiled, still blushing, "You alright?"

"Yeah." He joined me by the breadboard, put an arm around me and picked up the jar.

"Marmite?" A tiny pause, "What the hell?" He stared at it for a second, watched me bite into my hurriedly finished marmite sandwich and I smiled, embarrassedly.

"It's English. Seth got it for me." He looked at it again.

"Can I try it?" Without waiting for an answer, he picked up the jar, went to the drawer and grabbed a spoon.

"What're you doing?" I went to grab the jar out of his hand, "You'll be sick!"

"No, I won't." He grinned, "Although… Embry would…" His eyes lit up and he scampered away.

"Come back here with that!"

Bugger. I followed him into the dining room and stood behind him, my arms folded.

"Give it back!"

"Not yet." He turned to Embry, "I bet you can't take a whole mouthful of this."

"What is it?"

"Some English stuff…" He handed him the spoon and the jar, then looked at me. "Two spoonfuls, Max… it's not a lot!"

Famous last words, no doubt.

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Marmite returns – Thank you so much for the good luck wishes from BadWolfRose – my chem exam was torture, as all exams are, but I hope it went well!!

I'm really glad you all like it... so i'd appreciate more feedback...

And i'm really, really happy that you keep reading :)

Love you guys

xxx