So, yeah, I said I was going to update, but as we all know, life gets in the way. Anyway, here's the update that I meant to make a week ago. Sorry for the wait.

The Significance Series belongs to Shelly Crane.

Chapter Four

My heart was thumping hard at the thought of meeting his family. I must be insane. This had to be a dream, one big, giant joke. But there was no way that I could deny what had already happened to me, the calmness that washed over me every time we touched, and the pain that dissipated into air the moment he put his hands to my face. You couldn't fake that kind of stuff. That was something that I'd felt. Not to mention the weirdness in the way that he seemed to know what I was feeling, especially when I was panicking. That he knew where my house was. Rationally, I told myself it was because he'd looked into the phone book and happened upon my doorstep. But deep down inside, I had the feeling that he'd just known, the way he said he did.

Nick threw a glance over his shoulder as he stepped into the doorway of the house. His fingers were still gently wrapped around mine, barely holding my hand, but still there. I liked the comfort of them, the way they automatically calmed me down. It made me slightly nervous, though, too. I shouldn't have those emotions with someone that I'd just met not even a full day earlier. I shouldn't be stepping into his house, about to meet his family. I should be calling Paul or Hanna, planning a trip to the movies or the mall.

I shuffled in behind Nick. He really was a big guy in the shoulders and in height, because I couldn't see around him, though I did hear the noises of a family. A big family, by the sound of it. My heart was having palpitations, for God's sake. What had I gotten myself into?

Nick gave me a smile, one that warmed me all the way through, his hand tightening on mine. He didn't say anything, but the look of pure happiness on his face was enough of me to let out a deep, shaky sigh. He was so glad to have me standing there that I was speechless. What had I done to make him like me so much? What is it that he saw in me? What was the basis for this… imprint? Was it real? Did it explain why I felt the way I did?

"The answer is yes to your last two questions." I nearly jumped out of my skin, turning to look at the short girl standing at the door. She was leaning up against the door frame, her fingers laced with a boy's. He was tall, like Nick, though Nick was taller, and he was pretty handsome, with his shaggy hair and his worn band T-shirt. The short girl gave me a look, like a warning. "At least, I can tell you that yes, it's real, and it's only partly to explain about how you feel. And to your other questions, it's your soul. One soul sees the other and chooses it. It works both ways. The way you feel is the way Nick feels, but times two." I must've looked like a fish out of water, my mouth hanging open. The girl smiled at me, holding out her free hand to me. "I'm Maggie. It's nice to meet you, Elsie."

"Alright," I sighed, looking at her extended hand. I slowly reached out and took it. She had a gentle hold, like she was somewhat shy but powerful. "You've officially convinced me that I've boarded the freaky train."

She laughed as our hands dropped, and the guy behind her said, "Hey!" indignantly. She patted him on the chest, glancing up to look at him. Their eyes seemed glassy as they looked at each other. It was more obvious to me than it had ever been before that they were in love. And it seemed like they were easily talking to each other without saying a single word. She gave another short laugh, and Nick's fingers tightened on my own. I'd forgotten that he was holding my hand. I took a deep breath as I watched the two of them, amazed by the intense want of something like that that rushed through me.

"Sorry," Maggie said, turning her gaze back to mine. "This is my fiancé, Caleb." I stared at her blankly. She looked like she was my age – barely eighteen. "I am, actually." She said conversationally. "You'll see, though. You'll have something like me and Caleb." She added.

"Okay, well, can you stop with the reading minds thing? It's kind of freaking me out." I said. She nodded, giving me a slightly apologetic smile. I could see a tattoo on her neck under the wave of her hair. There was also one on her wrist, but it had Caleb's name running on the outside. Other than that, it had the same half-circle that Nick had.

That's when I noticed all the people that were standing behind Nick. I'd never seen so many people who were obviously related gathered in a single place. They were all quiet, though, their voices silenced when Maggie had begun to speak. I had the feeling that she was important to them. I had no idea why – she seemed like a normal type of girl, nice enough and certainly pretty. But it wasn't really my place to start asking.

There was a moment of pure silence before someone bustled up to me. "Well, look at you, pretty-girl," an older woman said. She seemed like the kind of woman that would get right in your face whenever she felt like it. It sort of reminded her of me, in the way of that I was a little… well, everywhere. At least that's what Hanna said. She said that I was stubborn and determined, which was both good and incredibly annoying. Her prime example: the way I refused to break up with Paul over the fact that he had flaws. That was my thing, something that my mom had drilled into me – don't turn down a person because of their flaws. Hanna said that I was using that excuse because I would feel bad about breaking up with him. Whatever.

"I'm Gran." She said. "And that means you can call me Gran." She gave me a wink and nodded to Nick. "You did a good job," She added, as if Nick had chosen me out of the store of girls. I bristled at the thought, and Caleb laughed. He was still standing behind me with Maggie. I turned to glare at him, and he gave me a light smile in return. Nick tugged on my arm. I was introduced to a flurry of people – Caleb's father and the clan's champion, Peter, and his wife, Rachel; his cousin Kyle and his significant, Lynne; his cousin, Jen and her daughter, Maria. Finally, he introduced me to his parents. By that time, I'd met so many people that I couldn't even remember their names, though they were bound to be more important. And lastly, I met his brother, Rodney. Rodney was older than Nick by a couple of years, about twenty-two or twenty-three.

"Elsie, honey, do you have any questions?" Rachel asked. She was impeccably dressed, wearing a silk shirt and black dress pants. She and her husband were the only ones that really seemed to take looking nice to heart, with the nice shirts, pants, and shoes. The whole nine yards.

"I just… what are you?" I blurted out.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment. It was so quiet that I was sure you could hear a pin drop across the room. Gran was the one who answered. I honestly wasn't that surprised to hear her speak first. "Virtuoso. Aces. We're humans with special powers and significants, that's about it." She said. She leaned forward as I sat down on a chair heavily. I was the rational one. I was supposed to be the down-to-earth one who took things in stride. I wasn't supposed to get all worked up about this. But here I was, panicking. Gran sat down next to me. "Elsie, you're exactly who you were… you've just found your soul mate. You two are made for each other, meant to be together, he calms you and you calm him. After you ascend, you get powers that will complement each other. After you ascend, he can heal you and you can heal him. You need him."

"Gran!" Nick said, like he thought it was too forward. He was probably right.

"That's exactly what I told Maggie and look how well she turned out!" The older woman replied back. She turned back to face me. "You felt those pains, didn't you? This morning? You felt like you were sick?" She asked.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I thought I had the flu and I thought my boyfriend –" I cut off. In just an hour or two, I'd completely believed that everything Nick had told me about the soul mate thing. I'd seen it for myself. I didn't think this many people were so dense that they couldn't see they were getting played. Of course, that didn't mean that I wasn't getting played.

Maggie came over to sit in the chair in front of me. "You're not getting played. This isn't a big elaborate lie." She said. She looked at me directly in the eyes. I stared back at her like she was an anchored ship in the middle of a storm. "Did you see the images the moment you touched?" She asked. I gave a slight nod, the images coming to mind. She stared at me like she was seeing something that wasn't really there. Then she sighed. "You'll be happy, Elsie. You know, Nick had visions just like you." She paused as she read the next question in my mind. "No, they're different than yours. And they're… well, they're kind of a secret. Not even your significant knows your imprint visions." She watched me silently for a moment. "You and Nick are meant to be together. This guy you're dating right now… you'll realize that you don't love him. You don't care for him. The love for your significant overrides any other emotion of love you've felt for someone else. I've seen it."

I swallowed hard. She put a hand on my arm, but my heart was thrumming in my chest so hard that I thought I was about to keel over. She turned and looked over her shoulder. "Nick!" She called. His father had basically cornered him in the room, and they were talking, their voices low and quick. Nick had his hand on his chest, like it was hurting him, and his head snapped up when he heard his name. He ducked away from his father and came to my side. He shuffled a little to the side, stepping in front of Maggie. His knees popped when he lowered himself to my level. His hands touched my face, fingers sliding into my hair. I let out a sigh without realizing it, and the rest of his family sighed around him. To them, I was special.

What about Paul? I pulled back a little from him, and shook my head. I could feel the tears prickling at the back of my eyes. What was I going to do about Paul? If this was all true, then I was supposed to fall hopelessly in love with Nick. I bristled at the thought of being told what to do. That was something that Royce always said about me – I hated authority. It was true. Royce only got away with it because he usually requested that I do something instead of telling me that I had to do something. And I usually did it out of the kindness of my heart. Royce was my eldest brother. He'd dropped everything to take care of me and Nolan when our parents died. I might as well have made it easy for him.

But I wasn't going to do whatever they told me what they wanted me to. I was going to befriend Nick, but I wasn't going to fall in love with him just because they wanted me to. I'm my own person, and I'm not going to let this imprinting thing decide what I was going to do with my life.

I bit back the still-present tears, biting down hard on my bottom lip. So hard that I was going to make it bleed. Maggie gave me a sad look over Nick's shoulder. She'd read my mind. She knew exactly what I'd just decided in my head. But it looked like she wasn't going to tell anyone. She was going to keep my decision to herself. I had a feeling that she thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. I wouldn't be able to stay away from him.

I didn't plan to. That might've seemed like a tease, but I needed Nick to keep me from feeling sick. I just wasn't going to force myself to fall in love with him. I wasn't going to turn my back on Paul because they said I would. If those things happened, they would happen because I wanted them to, or on their own accord. I wouldn't give in.

I stood up quickly. I shouldn't have come here. Maggie reached out and caught my arm. "You're part of the family now, whether you like it or not. And you've got a friend in me. You can talk to me anytime you need. I won't be biased. I won't try to tell you what to do or how to do it. I understand what you're going through. I had no idea that Aces existed. I was just a regular human with a crappy life." She looked at me seriously. "Your decisions are no longer just yours. I know that better than anyone here." She said. I started to pull away from her, but she held tight. "I mean it, Elsie Gray. You are not just some girl. You're important. You are everything to Nick. And I'm serious about calling me whenever you need someone to talk to. You can't tell your brothers about the Aces. You can't tell your friend, and you can't tell your boyfriend." It seemed like the entire family tensed up at the word boyfriend. "But you can talk to me. Here's my number." Caleb handed her a scrap of paper, which she handed to me. "I mean it. Call me."

# # #

Since I'd darted away before lunch was ready, Nick insisted on taking me to lunch. He chose out a little Mexican food place that I'd loved. I didn't know if he just knew it, or if he liked this place, too. We sat down, and he looked at me from across the table. I remembered my dinner with Paul, how I was uncomfortable the whole time. Then there was that moment when I'd kissed him, and it had burned with wrongdoing. I figured that it would be right to tell Nick exactly what I'd decided. It wouldn't be fair to him.

"Nick," I said quietly, and he leaned forward. "I don't…." This was harder than I thought. "I don't want to just drop everything for this." I said. Nick looked at me blankly. "What I mean is that I'm not just breaking up with Paul because you and your family think that I need to do that. I don't like being told what to do. I don't just follow pointless directions," I said, the hard edge returning to my voice. Royce said that it was my serious voice. Nolan said it was my "I'm-not-taking-any-crap" voice. I guess they were pretty much the same thing, just differently said. "I will not just fall in love with you because of this imprint, Nick."

"I didn't want you to. Didn't you feel the pull before we even touched?" I gave a slight nod. I had been hopelessly interested in him before he reached out to pick up my journal at the very moment that I did. "Two people don't just randomly imprint. These imprints are… rare. Caleb and Maggie were the first in twenty-something years. And most Aces don't even imprint until they're in their early twenties. At first everyone thought that it was just a fluke, but then they found out that Maggie's the Visionary. That means she's special. Other Aces practically see her as a queen." He said. "And then Kyle imprinted with Lynne. And now I've imprinted with you. They're coming back, Elsie. It's not a fluke. This means something. And all the other clans are mad because it's only happening to the Jacobsons."

"Look, I realize that this is important and everything, but I… I can't just turn my back on people because of what other people tell me to do. I do things for myself. I don't need anyone to take care of me. I'm not helpless." I gave him a hard look. "If I decide to break up with Paul and get together with you, it will because I decide."

Nick sat back in his chair. "Okay then. But we need to be around each other. The longer we're apart, the more pain we'll feel. And since we've imprinted, if any other Ace touches you with ill-meaning, you'll get an offensive mark. It's black and burns into your skin. Your skin shocks them, because you… belong to me." I could tell that he didn't want to say those last few words because I would probably be annoyed with them. He was right. "You have to understand, Elise, that Aces are old-fashioned. The men are the bread-winners and we take care of our family. We all go into the business together, working for an architect company. My sole duty is to protect you, and if that means that I have to just be your friend then… well, I'll do it." He leaned forward and shut up as someone brought our food to us. I waited until he started eating. He swallowed a part of his taco as I scooped up guacamole with my nacho. "You set the boundaries, Elsie. It looks like I'm just along for the ride."

# # #

Nick didn't let me pay for my half. Apparently, the kid and his family were loaded. It didn't really surprise me, since the house was huge and he didn't dress like he shopped at the neighborhood bulk store, like I did. Don't get me wrong, they're clothes are good, but his clothes were name-brand and expensive. I bit down on my lip as he stuffed a credit card into the black bill case.

After our initial talk, things kind of lightened a little. The tension was still there, but it wasn't so thick. Nick seemed to accept that I wasn't going to dump Paul just because his family wanted me to, and he respected my decisions. I could see myself falling in love with him. I wanted to smack my hand to my forehead at the thought, but it was true. It wouldn't be hard to choose Nick over Paul. Paul had his flaws and Nick was… flawless, so far. But my mom's words echoed in my head – "Never look away from someone because they have flaws. No one is perfect. We are meant to love despite their flaws."

Nick and I were getting back into car when my phone buzzed. I dug it out of my pocket and clicked in the password, opening Hanna's text message. WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT? I sighed and looked at the screen for a long time. What was I supposed to tell her? That I'd met some guy who had told me that I wasn't even human, but Virtuoso? That he was my soul mate, and I still didn't want to dump Paul just because of that?

God, I still felt clueless most of the time. I didn't type her back, knowing that I would probably get a hysteric message in about twenty minutes, but I couldn't think of anything to tell her right then. Hanna wouldn't settle for something easy. She'd want the details of the whole night, and despite the fact that it had been my birthday and Paul had been the one who'd taken me out – albeit late – that my night consisted mostly of thinking about a guy that I'd barely met, I wasn't willing to tell her that. She was a romantic. She would think that it was destiny, and that meant that I needed to dump Paul right then and run to Nick.

So no, I wasn't going to tell her.

Nick watched me as he backed out of the parking space, which I thought was really unsafe. We managed to make it out without dying, though, which was a plus. Nick drove me straight to my house, idling the car at the curb. Royce's beat-up car was in the driveway. It was Nolan's day off, so he was probably watching TV, too. The two of them would be mad that I hadn't told them where I was going. I hadn't even left a note. And they definitely wouldn't be too happy about me hanging out with a guy they'd never met. Royce especially, since he thought every boy in the whole world was out to get me, or something.

I turned to say goodbye to Nick, and he was leaning forward, his elbow on the leather console in between us. He peered towards the window, and that's when I saw the blinds flicker. Of course it was Nolan, getting into my business like he always did. If Royce had become the father figure, Nolan had resorted to being the protective class clown.

"That's just Nolan," I said with a breath. He was so, so close. I could imagine myself closing my eyes and leaning against him. I could practically feel his lips on mine. It would've been so much more than what I had with Paul. I bit down on my lip and swallowed hard. I wasn't going to do that. You can't just fall in love at first glance. There has to be an actual relationship there. I closed my eyes for a moment, keeping my muscles tense so I wouldn't act out what I had in mind. I let a breath go. "Thanks for coming this morning. And for lunch. And I'm sorry," I added.

"Remember, you set the pace," He said. "If there's anything that Caleb has told me to do that was right for once, it was to let you set the pace." He gave me a small smile. I turned to get out of his car, but found that, while I could open the door, and undo my seatbelt, I couldn't step out. He gave a short laugh, though it sounded more pained than amused. "It's the imprint. It's like it doesn't know that I'll be back for you. It doesn't want me to leave."

"Will that go away?" I asked sharply. This was one of my fears, I realized, being tied down without deciding that I'd wanted to be tied down.

"Once we ascend, yes. But we won't ascend for a while. A couple weeks, at least." He said. He leaned forward and touched my cheek, the anxiety disappearing in a rush. He let out a breath, like I'd just cleared his anxiety, too, and said, "Go on inside. You have my number, so call me if you need me."

"Like what?"

"Like if you're starting to feel sick. Otherwise, I'll be back in the morning."

I nodded, and like magic, I could step out of the car. I climbed out and shut the door behind me, glaring at the living room window as I started up the front walkway. Nick waited until I was at the front door, opening it with my key before driving away.

I stared after him for a moment, wondering for the hundredth time what I'd gotten myself into. Finally, I pushed open the door and stepped inside, pausing to pull my key from the lock. When I turned around, Royce was standing in the hallway with his arms crossed across his chest. He looked angry. Nolan peeked around the living room corner. He didn't look too happy, either, but he didn't look like he was about to tie me down to a chair in my room, either.

"Where have you been?" He asked, his voice dangerously low.

"I was with a friend."

"So who was the dude?" Nolan asked.

Royce seemed to get a little tenser at that. I don't know what his deal was with "protecting" me from my guy friends. None of them had ever hurt me before. Royce would say that's just because he did a good job of keeping them scared and in line. I said it was because not every guy that wasn't my brother was some crazy serial killer or something. Still. "What guy?"

"Nick," I answered back, hoping that maybe they would remember a false story about some kid named Nick from high school. I'd never hung out with anyone named Nick before. I don't think I even knew a Nick before Nick Jacobson, the guy who was supposedly destined to steal my heart.

"I've never heard you talk about a Nick before." Royce said. I stifled a groan. Good Lord, why couldn't they just leave me alone for once? My phone buzzed, and I smiled to myself. Saved by Hanna, no doubt. I pulled out my phone and pretended that it was a call.

"Whoops, got to take this." I said, clicking the button to make it stop vibrating. I put the phone to my ear and pretended to have a conversation with Hanna on the other line. "Hey, Han." I said, turning my back on Royce and Nolan as I headed for my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and pulled the phone away from my ear. It wasn't a text message from Hanna, it was from Paul. He wanted to go out again tonight, to a movie. He wanted to see if Hanna wanted to double-date. It didn't make much sense, because Hanna and Paul didn't really get along. I had the feeling that it was just because Paul didn't really want to be alone with me.

I sighed, because I'd just realized that I didn't really want to be alone with Paul, either.

If it was Nick, it would've been a whole different story.

So, what do you guys think?

*Please keep in mind that I wrote and released this chapter before Shelly Crane revealed the relationships of Rodney Jacobson's family. I will be keeping the original story line of this fanfiction, but now there will be some differences between my version of Rodney's (and therefore Nick's) family and the family depicted in the series.*

I needed some help with Nick's parents – I don't think they were ever mentioned in the books, so I figured that his father might be the guy that could see into the future, but I couldn't remember if his wife's power had been mentioned.

And I bet you all recognized Nick's brother, Rodney (if you didn't, he's the one that found Maggie on the Watson compound in Book 1.)

Also, I think I have a power all lined up for Elsie (since she will ascend with Nick, whether or not she's dating him) but I'm not sure if I should keep it for a surprise or see what you readers think first. And then there's that whole thing with coming up with an ability to complement Elsie's for Nick.

Any-who. Leave me a review! Peace (: