DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

Hope you enjoy this.

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It was wolf. Wolf, and home.

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Seth's POV

She twisted in my arms and I pulled her closer, pulled her tight into the heat of my body. She shuddered against me like the day we'd met - only five days ago, but it felt like years. Her lips pressed into my neck and I bowed my head to kiss her cheek.

She laughed softly and pulled away.

"You can't pretend today's not happened." She whispered a second later, her laugh fading and a small frown hitting her features. "You know we'll have to talk, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded, her words hitting me in the stomach like a vampire-kick. "But not now."

"No." She smiled against me, her lips still on my neck. Her breath tickled my neck and I found a giggle slipped from my lips before I could stop it. "I'm pretty happy right now." My arms tightened around her and she half-fell against me.

I loved how she smelled. Earlier, when she'd first fallen back into my arms, I'd hated how she had reeked of, garlic, ironically, and rotten eggs. She stank. Absolutely wrong. I loved how that maybe half an hour later, after… falling through the air, and being rescued by a wolf, she smelled right again, like me, like my pack, like strawberries and cream - like my Max should.

I looked at her after a long minute of just holding onto her, trying to keep her warm. She had been shaking for a while, I had realised that she had given Leah her top, I had taken the shorts from her, and I had to keep her warm as an apology.

When I looked up, she was smiling slightly, her eyes closed, blood caked on her bottom lip. When I didn't speak for a minute, she blinked her eyes open and looked up at me.

"What's up?" She said, her tongue touching her lip gently. She grimaced at the taste and I licked my own finger, tried to wipe it away. "Don't, Seth. It kinda hurts." She smiled and I rolled my eyes.

"Well… can I do it another way?" I smiled and she tilted her head slightly and wrinkled her nose slightly. A moment later, she grinned and shook her head, a look of sheer disbelief crossing her face.

"You're serious?" she laughed. I nodded my head.

"It is your birthday. And… I really should give you a present."

"I've told you before, you don't have to, and-" I silenced her by doing it anyway.

I pressed my lips against hers, as gently as I could, she took a deep, surprised breath and I heard her gentle back-of-the-throat giggle as I pulled her slightly closer to me. Her arms slipped around my neck and I groaned, my hand sliding up to press against her cheek, to cradle her head, to stop her hurting any more.

Leah's POV

I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes, shaking my head.

"Don't Seth, it kinda hurts," I imagined he was either brushing his hand against her cheek or kissing her there. She laughed lightly and said something, then, halfway through her sentence, she was cut off quite forcefully, by, what I assumed, was his lips.

Curious, I stepped forward towards the clearing, my head down, my lips pressed together and hid behind the tree, just out of sight of the pair of them, should they decide to look my way.

I felt guilty, almost voyeuristic as I watched her slide her arms around his neck, held him tightly and slid her hand against his upper arm. She pulled away slightly, took a deep breath and Seth swept her into his arms, lifted her off the ground. Her head bent down slightly again and I saw their lips touch.

Jealousy hit me and embarrassment joined it. I couldn't watch my brother make out with his imprint, or rather, I shouldn't, but it was too hard to look away.

The only time I had felt anywhere near the passion they shared was with Sam. I hadn't felt anything near this for almost five years. I was a menopausal, lonely, half-human, who hadn't had a good snog in years. And I was sitting, watching my brother getting very friendly with a girl he barely knew.

I was expected to let it go because she was his imprint, but… it's hard to be sure about someone when you barely know them, isn't it?

I closed my eyes and looked away, backed off, let them have their fun. I knew I couldn't hang around for long - the vampires didn't like me much and the wolves weren't exactly willing to share their cake with me. As long as Max was with Seth, and they were happy, I would be alright, and I'd be back soon. I just didn't want to impose myself on them, when I knew I wasn't exactly the best person in the world.

I smiled at Max as she turned to look at the way we'd come in, pulled the T-shirt off and phased back into my wolf form. I wouldn't stay.

Max's POV

I took a deep breath as he set me gently down on my feet and he put his arms around me again.

"You certainly do kiss by the book," I giggled, slightly breathless and very dazed.

"Sorry?" He paused and then nodded, "Oh, right, the Romeo and Juliet thing." I smiled and he bit his bottom lip, a wide smile in his eyes.

"Yes, the Romeo and Juliet thing." he leaned in to steal another kiss, I obliged and let his fingers slide into my hair. His lips touched mine again and I succumbed to the stunning feeling in my heart, the somersaulting, cartwheeling, wonderful feeling that made my head spin and my stomach churn and everything feel alright.

I sucked in a breath as he pulled away; I licked my bottom lip slowly, a grin spreading across my face. I felt so dozy, so stupidly half-asleep as he Eskimo-kissed me and smiled.

"You're very good at cleaning away the blood." I said dopily, he grinned and hugged me again.

"I try my best."

"I know."

"And you know what else?" I shrugged. "I'm damn hungry."

"Well, you should have eaten earlier, then, shouldn't you?" He snickered and pressed his lips to my forehead.

"See, this is why I love you. You won't let anything drop." I laughed and shook my head.

"Come on, if you're hungry." I disentangled myself from his arms and took his hand, loving the heat I was getting from his body. I looked up for a second, saw Leah hiding in the trees and smiled at her, mouthed a thank you and watched her nod once and slink away. She was smiling.

I wondered if she was going back to get her stuff, or maybe to let us have some privacy. Seth hadn't seen her standing in the shadows, he looked at me as I smiled and leaned closer to him.

"What is it?"

"Nothing at all." I said honestly, "I just like being near you." He laughed and we started to walk… well Seth started to walk; I started limping, toward the safest exit of the clearing. Seth put his arm around me, lifted me gently over the larger log and let me drop to my feet. The T-shirt I had leant Leah was lying on the floor, spread out flat, still warm.

"Where did that come from?" Seth asked softly.

"Ask Leah." I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his shoulder a second longer. He pulled me closer and released me, I limped forward and pulled the top from the floor, put it on, tried to stay comfortable as he pulled me up into his arms and carried me back towards the beach.

Jasper's POV

Jacob was shaking, his body trying to reject his thoughts. Every single emotion I tried to push towards him was overwhelmed by despair and panic, and he kept looking at me, telling me to back off.

The other wolves were easier to calm down. Jared and Kim were holding onto each other, he was brushing his fingers through her hair as she buried herself against his T-shirt; Embry was staring into the water, every so often looking up at the cliff and shaking his head. Edward was looking at him with pity; I could feel guilt and sadness radiating from him. Clearly he blamed himself for the whole fiasco.

Sam and Emily were walking on down the beach, as far away from the group as possible. As I watched, Emily shook her head, four bursts of quick confusion hit me and I watched her fall against him, he wrapped his arms around her in the darkness and stood with her, saying something. Everyone was subdued - apart from Emmet, who was never very good at calmness. I tried - and failed - to hit him with a little more sensibility, but he wasn't having any of it.

I closed my eyes and tried to pick out every other emotion in the vicinity. Underneath the panic and despair, very weak, very far away, was elation, relief, it ebbed away and then returned stronger, moving like the tide behind me. Naturally, I turned toward it, trying to hold onto those happy feelings as everyone around me collapsed into the negative.

I didn't think about it, as I started to slink away, towards the feeling, so Edward never tried to stop me. I wanted to know what was making this person so happy, what was making them feel the opposite of what they should have been feeling - two of my friends had done stupid things today. Embry had lost contact with Seth, we had assumed he'd followed his imprint, Alice hadn't seen anything to do with Max for almost an hour. I had wondered if she could see where Max would end up, but… she both refused and was not able to.

Before I knew it, I had stepped into the sheer darkness of the trees. The smell of forest and green hit me and I closed my eyes, trying to follow the emotion. Another fifty paces, and it grew stronger, thirty more and I was surrounded by elation.

"Don't! Seth, that kinda hurts…" Her voice span through my mind and I think I went slightly insane for a moment. She was alive. She was alive. He laughed and I shook with anticipation. The pair of them must have been feeling it. It was crazy.

I waited for ten minutes, listening to their emotions, feeling them rise in my chest, change, twist, become more and more intense and more and more incredible.

There was a burst of movement moments later and I saw a grey wolf fly past me, a streak of lightning in the darkness. Leah. She was back, then? Not in Port Angeles.

I closed my eyes and turned to go back to the beach.

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

"Happy" Reunion next chapter. Does anyone have any questions for Seth to ask Max or Max to ask Seth (related to the story, of course)

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

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

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