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

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

It was odd. I sat thinking, as she hugged me, then rose and went to dress again, smiling wildly all the time. It was odd, and she would have to discuss it with Jake, Evan and Carlisle, because I didn't have a clue why it was happening. Still, I was happy for her.

-x-

Jake's POV

I rubbed my eyes and picked up the phone, blinking tiredly.

"Hullo?" I groaned as Seth's voice burst through the speaker.

"Hey, Jake… do… when are you going to see Carlisle next?"

"Why?" I wasn't particularly compliant at that point. "Seth, sleep on it. Whatever's broken will be fine tomorrow morning." I yawned and groaned again. "Unless it's something else?"

"Well… it's kind of…" He stopped and sighed down the line. "When are you going to see the Cullens next?" He asked again, yawning through the line.

"It's past midnight, man."

"I know. Just humour me, dude. Please."

"Probably tomorrow… maybe the day after, I don't know."

"Will you call me when you go? Leah wants to talk to you and him… and she'll be bringing someone along."

"Who?" I rubbed my face with the heel of my hand to try to displace all the tiredness in my face. It didn't particularly work - it just moved the exhaustion around a little. I sighed and blinked twice, registering the vague curiosity in my chest.

"Just a friend. But… I think you'll be pleased."

"Cool." He seemed satisfied with my lame reply. I sighed and closed my eyes again. "G'night Seth."

"Night Jake."

I barely had time to register the obscurity of the conversation - Seth never called me unless something was wrong, or someone was in serious trouble, we patrolled every third day - Seth, Embry, Quil, Leah and I, and the other pack, the larger pack, split in two and took the other days. I rolled over and nearly crushed my phone, then yawned and closed my eyes, tired, falling asleep almost immediately.

Seth's POV

I sucked in a deep breath of strawberries and cream, and closed my eyes. Max snuggled into my warmth and kissed me tenderly on the lips before shutting her eyes and yawning tiredly, wrapping her arm around my body and sighing.

"Night Seth." She smiled against my cheek, I closed my eyes, letting her scent take over my mind, and my body doze off to get the sleep it so desperately needed.

"Night Max." I murmured as sleep took me away.

It was midday before I woke up, rolled over only to get blasted in the face by angry sunlight, and groaned.

"Aww. Crap!" I groaned again and someone laughed happily, and then poked me in the ribs.

"Come on, Seth. Up you get." Her hand slid across my shoulders and I turned over again to face her. "Morning sleepy." She smiled at me and I grinned back, pushing myself onto my elbows, and up into a sitting position. "Did you get a good rest?"

"Why're you so cheery?" I was immediately suspicious.

"I'm not." She was still grinning, but she relented and admitted, "I've been watching you sleep."

"Yeah, because that's not weird." She crossed the room and sat down on the bed beside me. I closed my eyes and let her kiss me gently, wrapping her arms around my neck. She bit my bottom lip gently as she pulled away, grinning like a lunatic.

"You look so lovely when you're… out." She murmured, grinning again. "So peaceful and quiet." I sniggered; she smiled back at me, leaning over to kiss me gently. Her fingers slid into my hair and tugged at it gently as she twisted my lips into submission. Her other hand slid around my neck and stroked lightly across my shoulders, I groaned and she smiled against my lips, hungrily pressing her body to mine.

"And I'm not peaceful and quiet usually?" I laughed as I pulled away, nuzzling into her neck gently.

"Well… not really." She smiled.

"Good morning Max." I smiled to myself and threw her against the pillows. Her shiny hair flew in every direction, her eyes widened and her lips parted in a silent gasp of surprise. She laughed and shook her head, refusing to kiss me again until I had given her room to breathe.

Reluctantly, I leaned away and let her sit back up. She was wearing a light cotton jumper and a pair of jeans that were obviously wide fit. As she stood up, she drew her hair into a clip and pulled it back off her face, looking gorgeous at every stage of the process.

I, on the other hand, got up, ran a hand through my hair and dressed quickly - I was still wearing the jeans from yesterday - I had taken to sleeping on my duvet, rather than underneath it, and pulling on a pair of trainers.

Only then did I notice that the floor was actually visible. For the first time in about ten months, I could see my navy blue carpet, and the mess that had been all over the floor was gone.

"I kind of… cleared up." She murmured softly as I got to my feet and looked around the room, almost stunned, "I… you don't mind, do you?"

"No," She smiled as I put my arm around her shoulders, "That's fine… really." I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

Max's POV

I'd rented Leah for half an hour when I'd woken up. She was sitting in the kitchen, sipping coffee as she stared out of the window, her eyes bright, but slightly glazed over. I supposed she was either dazed or daydreaming.

"Leah… can you spare some time?"

"For what?" She was immediately looking at me.

"If I chuck some stuff downstairs, could you separate it into piles for the laundry?" I glanced at her hopefully and she nodded happily. "Thanks!" She smiled and I set to work gathering clothes and throwing them downstairs. When I had cleared up sufficiently, I took the stairs three at a time and landed in the kitchen neatly, helping her stuff things into the washing machine. I yawned as I worked, but felt better for having done Seth a favour.

Half an hour later, when the washing machine was spinning, and Leah had finally found the desire to wake Evan up from the jet-lag induced sleep he had collapsed into about ten hours ago, I decided to go and wake my wolf-boy up.

I crept into his bedroom, and watched him for a long minute. His fingers were curled up around the pillow, twisted into the fabric of the case so he was clutching it like a teddy bear. His hair was strewn all across his face in the cutest way, as he breathed in and out, growling from his chest, he blew the strands from out of his face and through the air, so they arced around and hit the pillow.

I crossed the room and drew the curtains so the sunlight streaming in through the windows shone on his skin, making him look so perfect, so beautiful in the half-light of the late morning.

I smiled and sat down on the mattress watching him, brushed the hair from his face and leaned down to kiss the tip of his nose. My stomach twisted happily, as I licked my lips and touched his cheek with the back of my hand. I so enjoyed being near him, and his unconscious state was just as attractive as his waking moments.

It was sad to say that I had moved on so quickly, but I could safely say I had been in love with Seth from the moment I saw him, and his actions had only cemented that fact, digging it so deep that I found I had never been so wholly, so completely in love with someone before. I felt a pang of regret at the thought of Evan, but that was stifled by the quiet laugh that echoed from Leah's lips as the pair of them sat downstairs.

"Seth?" I whispered, he snuffled like a lonely puppy and I gently poked his shoulder. "Seth, sweetheart, time to get up."

There was silence in the room, mitigated slightly by the groaning of the bedsprings as he turned over and opened his eyes, grimacing as the sun blinded him for a second. Staring at him, I ran on a mindless daydream, enjoying simply staring at him for the next few minutes.

Then my lips were on his, once, twice, three times and more, and we were sitting in the kitchen drinking tea and preparing breakfast. I closed my eyes for a long minute and there was a loud, unbroken silence as Seth disappeared.

"I thought I'd make you a present, Max." I heard from somewhere to my left. I twisted to look at him, he was holding something that looked cumbersome but not heavy, and as he placed it on the table, I realised exactly what it was.

"You've made me a new memory box?" I asked, slightly astounded, to be honest with you, "But… why?"

"Well, I figured that… because the first one… the hinges were broken, and you were gonna need a new one anyway - I mean it was nearly full and falling apart, so I thought I should make you a new one… Jared has been helping with my carpentry and -"

"I love it." I murmured, determined to stop his babbling streak. "Seth, it's gorgeous."

"You've not even looked at it."

"It's from you… it's gonna be perfect, I guarantee it." He smiled, a little embarrassed.

"Well… I'd open it first, if I were you."

"OK…" I pulled the white sheet off of it and gasped.

Across the panels were images of the forest I could see outside the window, and a pack of five wolves carved into the wood, all of them howling at the full moon that had been etched into the box, set in with a white gemstone.

"It's Mother of Pearl," Seth grinned as I ran my fingers over it. "I asked mom if I could take it off one of her necklaces… and she said it was fine."

I turned and stood up, wrapping my arms around him tightly, and kissing him quite violently on the lips. He groaned and slid his arms around me, kissing me softly and smiling against my lips.

His cell phone rang, but he tossed it onto the table as he slid his lips from mine so they could press against my neck.

"Don't you want to answer that?" I murmured, my breath coming in an almost-pant.

"Screw 'em." He breathed, gently nipping at my collarbone.

Too right. Screw 'em.

-x-

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

Too right. Screw 'em. Did you know, if you have 'em on autocorrect, it changes it to "Me"? I found that funny – reread the last couple of lines and you'll get me

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