AN: I do not own the vampires or the wolf pack (though, I wish I did). Sadly, they belong to Stephanie Meyer.

I don't even own Trisha, Ethan, David, Taylor, or any of the other wolf kids. They belong to yay4shanghai. She's just letting me borrow them for a little while because she's cool like that!

I also don't own the title to this chapter, as it belongs to an old Elton John song, that I don't even have on my iPod.

I do, however, own the following statement made by my brother on Easter, as he runs a red light, yelling at the car next to us with a Kansas License Plate (sorry, if you're from Kansas):

*My Brother: "Cuz that's how we fucking roll in the OKC, bitch!" (OKC=Oklahoma City)

Thank you to all of you who continue to read and review! You are awesome! It literally makes my day to see reviews!

Don't forget to show some love to yay4shanghai, as well as another of my faves KupKakes09!

****************************************************************************

Chapter 7: "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"

ETHAN'S POV

Seth's history lessons were generally interesting, and I learned more from him than from anything Sam ever told us. I guess Seth had been saving one particular story.

"Hey, Ethan! How was your day? How's Trisha?" He asked, fixing a big bowl of macaroni and cheese and smiling up at me, knowing I spent my days keeping an eye on her from a distance.

"My day was as miserable as Trisha is. She never smiles anymore, and her eyes are always red. Damn, David Uley! Why won't he just leave her the hell alone," I sighed.

He took a big bite before patting the seat next to him on the couch. "He can't, man. Hey, you up for another story?"

I smiled, moving to sit. "Always."

"I don't know if you're going to like this one, Ethan. But I guess you need to hear it. So before you get pissed off and phase, just think, okay?" Seth said, putting the bowl on the coffee table and turning more towards me. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to respond.

"Fine," I grumbled.

Seth cleared his throat. "So, you know that Emily is my cousin, right?"

I nodded to him.

"Before Sam was married to Emily, he and Leah were together. I mean, together together. Absolutely in love with one another. We all thought they would get married, have the white picket fence, two kids and a dog, kinda thing," Seth said, shaking his head a little.

"What happened? I mean, sure Leah's a bitch sometimes, but," he cut me off before I could finish.

"Don't talk about my sister that way," he said, putting his head down. His eyes got sad as he looked up at me. "You know, she wasn't always like that, you know? Cold. She used to be happy and fun, we always had so much fun together. But then Sam broke her. He broke everything about her, her heart, her happiness, her will to live."

"He imprinted," I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. While he was still with Leah. And on our cousin, no less. Leah was devastated."

"But why, if Sam loved Leah, did he not fight for her?" I asked half-heartedly, knowing the answer.

"He couldn't. The imprint was too strong. He was so pulled to Emily that nothing he had with Leah mattered anymore. So Emily got Sam and the family that everyone assumed would belong to Leah."

I thought for a minute about Trisha, wondering if Seth's story held true if the imprintee was the one in love and not the other way around. Was I Leah in the story? Was I the one going to become a bitch while David and Trisha lived happily-ever-after with little mutts running about their house? Fuck! I was more confused than ever.

"So, what you're telling me, is that no matter what I do, no matter what Trisha does, she's going to end up with him?" I said, defeat clear in my voice.

Seth shook his head, "I don't know. What I do know is that you need to let her make that decision for herself. It can't be easy for David, either. He lost his best friend and…"

"I don't want to hear about David Uley! What he feels is the least of my concerns right now," I snapped at Seth.

Seth patted me on the back and returned to his macaroni and cheese and flipped on the TV.

"Gotta love baseball, right?" He smiled.

Seth was a great friend, but hanging around with him really made me miss my family.

"You should go see them, let them know you're okay." I swear Seth must have some mind reading ability! "I know they miss you. Your mom especially."

I decided to take a shower and then head home, at least for dinner, maybe. I ran, with shorts tied to my leg, ignoring the voices in my head from the rest of the pack. I stayed in the woods outside of the house for minute, phasing back, and getting dressed. I watched as Taylor and Mark walked out of the house and headed towards the beach. Taylor and Mark? Since when did they become friends? I guess it only made sense. Both of their big brothers were off pining for the same girl, while they were only left with each other. I was happy to see Taylor have someone to talk to, and I knew it wouldn't be too long before both of them started phasing too.

I walked slowly to the house, hearing voices coming from the kitchen.

"Kim, I don't understand why I can't have him! I just want Ethan, I only want him!" I knew that voice. It was Trisha. She was sitting at the kitchen table with Mom, weeping into her soda.

Mom sat across from her, a box of tissues between them, holding Trisha's hand.

"Has David been following you around?" Mom asked.

Trisha nodded. "I told him to stop. I told him to leave me alone."

"He can't, Trisha. No matter how much you want him to—or even if he wanted to, he can't," Mom whispered.

Trisha's tears were worse now. She kept her head down. "For the first time in my life, I am ashamed of all this wolf business." She looked at Mom, practically screaming, "I wish this never existed! I wish we could all just be normal, no pack, no wolves, no imprints!"

"Without the imprint, you wouldn't be here," Mom said.

"Well, maybe that wouldn't be so bad," Trisha sighed.

I could see Mom's eyes get a little angry. "Trisha Wise, don't you ever fucking say that again! Do you hear me?! I know this is hard. You think I don't miss my son? You think I don't wish everything could go back the way it was? I know you love him and I know he loves you. But you never having existed would not solve this problem."

Trisha's tears got worse as she looked my Mom in the eyes and said with determination, "Then what will? Tell me and I will do it! I'm killing everyone around me! My Dad's pissed at me because I won't just give in to the imprint, my Mom's pissed at Dad because he won't leave me alone about it, I haven't seen Ethan in weeks, and there's a damn wolf following me around everywhere I go! So tell me what the hell I have to do to solve this freakin' problem!"

Mom got out of her chair and moved over to Trisha, wrapping her in a hug, as Trisha continued to sob into her chest. "I know you love my son. I know this is hard for everyone, especially you. Just don't ever say you wish you didn't exist." Mom put her finger under Trisha's chin, making her look her in the eyes. "You are too special and mean too much to my family to not be here. Do you hear me?"

Trisha nodded, hugging Mom back.

I saw a car pull into the driveway, and watched as Paul got out. He sniffed the air and snarled a little, as he made his way to the front door, banging on it.

"For fucks sake, Paul, are you trying to break down the door?" Mom said.

"Is he here? Is Ethan here?" Paul said, looking over Mom's shoulder into the house.

"I wish," I heard Trisha say as she hugged Mom. "I love you, Kim. Thanks for listening."

She followed Paul to their car, throwing herself in, and buckling her seatbelt, as Paul followed her mumbling about my scent.

I waited another few minutes before making my way into the house.

"Mom!" I yelled, as I walked into the kitchen.

She had her back turned, digging through the freezer, before pulling out a gallon of Cookies-n-Cream ice cream.

"Rough day?" I asked, slightly laughing.

"You have no idea," she said, pulling two spoons out, handing me one, and then digging into the ice cream.

She smiled at me, placing her hand on my cheek. "Oh, special guy, you have no idea how much I've missed you. Are you here to stay?"

I shook my head no, taking a bite of ice cream. "Just came to let you know I was still alive."

Mom threw the spoon into the ice cream. "Do you know how hard this is on all of us? Did you see Trisha? Fuck, look at Taylor, he misses you so much, he won't say it but look his new best friend is your girlfriend's imprint's brother! This whole thing is just too dysfunctional!"

I had to kind of laugh at that statement. If it wasn't so screwed up, if it was happening to someone else, it would have been funny.

"I know, Mom. I just can't be here with all of this surrounding me," I said, kissing her cheek.

"You're crushing her, Ethan. She hasn't seen you in too long. She feels rejected, you know that?"

Before I could say anything, Dad walked in and smiled at me. "Hi, son!"

"Fuck you," I said, as I walked upstairs to pack some clothes. I was still a little angry at Dad for our conversation the night of the imprint fiasco. No one followed me up the stairs. I could hear Dad blubbering to Mom. He missed me and I missed him, but I am a man in love and trying to prove a point.

I could hear Mom, too. "What the fuck am I supposed to do?" It seems like everyone was saying that lately. "Jared, he's my son. I love him and I want him to be happy."

"But…" Dad said.

"I know how imprinting works. Even if she could stay away from David, David could never stay away from her. And what kind of life would that be for them?"

Mom was right. Seth was right. Hell, Dad had been right from the beginning. I would have to pull myself away from Trisha. I wouldn't contact her anymore. I would let her make her decision.

It was a good plan and it worked, for awhile.

I spent weeks hanging out with Seth, going to visit Sue and Charlie, and doing anything I could to keep my mind off of the most important thing in the world to me, my Ray. I'd heard through the grapevine (Billy told Sue who told Charlie who told me) that Trisha was like a zombie nowadays. Withdrawing herself farther and farther from her family. I hated that I was doing that to her, but I knew eventually, no matter our strength, she would give into the imprint, so I was just pushing it along a little faster.

I needed to get back to my roots. I needed some time in the woods, just me and the trees. I decided to have a little campout. I pitched a tent not far from my family's home and sat. That's really about all I did, sat and thought, trying to decide what my next move would be. Eventually, after three days of sitting, thinking, and meditating, I responded to myself with, "I got nothing." I started packing up when I heard the footsteps. Three different people. I knew their scents. Taylor and the Uley boys. They weren't together. Taylor was in front. The Uleys weren't far behind him. (I had also heard through the grapevine that Mark had started phasing, and that he and Taylor were no longer best friends, as the result of a bet Taylor and I had made regarding Mark's sexual preference.)

"Ethan?" Taylor said, walking towards me, smiling as he got closer.

"Yeah, little bro. It's me," I met him, smiling, and hugging him.

"I've missed you," Taylor said.

"Ditto, bro, ditto." I looked him over, taking in his new appearance. He was bigger, stronger looking, with a bit of a swagger to his step. "Have you gone wolf?"

He nodded. I knew he didn't want to. When David and I would fantasize about the day we would phase, Mark and Taylor wanted no part of it. The more I thought, the more I realized that I had to have been the worst big brother in the world since the imprint. My own brother had started phasing and I had no idea. I hadn't been there for him, to help him through it.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Hey, it's not your fault. Like you said, it's in our blood, right?" Taylor was so logical about everything. He laughed and then turned to me. "You know you owe me some money?"

I laughed back, "Yeah, I heard. So, Mark's gay? I was so sure he wasn't."

Taylor stopped laughing. "He won't talk to me now. He found out about the bet."

I stopped laughing, too, looking at him a little confused. "You guys had become pretty close, huh?"

"Yeah—wait, not like that, Ethan!"

"I didn't mean like that. I'm grateful to Mark. He's been the brother to you that I couldn't be."

"Yeah, well he hates me now, so it doesn't matter." Taylor said, kicking a rock.

"Yes it does. He was your friend. In case you've forgotten, I know what it's like to lose a best friend," I moved to stand closer to him.

"It's all a mess, isn't it?" Taylor asked.

"Pretty much," I said.

He furrowed his eyes and started sniffing. "You smell that?"

I nodded, "It's the Uleys. We better get out of here."

Taylor grabbed my bag, throwing it over his shoulder, as we both turned to walk away, instead we walked right into the David and Mark. No one said anything for a minute. We just stared. David moved first.

"Ethan, dude, where you been? I've missed you."

He was getting closer to me, too close, and I started to feel threatened. I growled warning him to stay back. But he didn't heed the warning and continued moving towards me. My body started the familiar trembling as I closed the space between us. Seeing him stand there with no clue how much I truly hated him, how I had no intention of ever letting him be with my Trisha, set me off. The shaking and trembling ceased as I jumped at David in full wolf form. He ducked out of the way, phasing immediately.

"So that's how you want to play. All friendly like nothing happened," I thought.

"Dammit, would you just chill?" David thought.

Instead of "chilling" I bombarded him with images of every sexual act Trisha and I had engaged in. I showed him the kissing, the groping, the finger incidents, and finally the handjob, making sure he knew that one occurred on the night of the imprint.

I nipped at him, as we rolled in the dirt, neither one really getting a foothold on any type of victory.

"You see David Uley! There is NO WAY IN HELL that she will EVER love you! Even on the night you imprinted on her, Trisha chose me to love," I thought, continuing to replay the images.

I could tell my tactic was working. I had the upper-hand, pinning him to the ground. Until, Mark, who was now bigger than David, especially in wolf-form, charged at me, throwing me off David, as I felt my shoulder crack.

Mark pinned me easily, as a growled and yelped in pain.

"Mark, this is not your fight! Back off!" I thought.

"My brother's fight is my fight!" Mark said. I knew he probably wanted to hide it, but I could see the turmoil in his mind. Images of him and Taylor talking, the moment he told Taylor he was gay. I could feel relief coming off of him and his feeling of total trust in Taylor. Then I saw the moment he found out about Taylor and I's bet regarding his sexuality. It was a feeling of total devastation, almost as bad as the image I sent him of me finding out about David's imprint.

I caught Mark off guard, flipping him to his back, and biting at his neck. David pushed me, as a symphony of growls and yips came from all of us. Taylor stood, trembling, yelling for someone to come help.

"Shit! Taylor's going to phase!" I thought.

I looked over as my little brother exploded, running straight to David, scratching and gouging at David's back. I felt others phasing around us, as I got up to help Taylor, only to be pushed down by Mark, as he flew into Taylor, pushing him into a tree.

The sound of Taylor's body hitting the tree was excruciating to all of us and we all paused for a moment before I went back to David. Mark's thoughts were overwhelming both us all, as guilt set in, knowing he had injured his best friend. I could hear Taylor whimpering, as Embry and Collin walked up.

I was distracted again, and David now had the upperhand, flipping me, and putting his teeth no more than an inch from my neck. One bite would have meant certain death.

"I'm not going to kill you. Stay away from imprint! She is MINE!" David thought.

Embry pushed David off of me, while Collin went to examine Taylor.

I had lost. Dad was right. I could never beat David Uley.

Eventually, I knew, he would win more than just a fight. He would win my Ray of sunshine. She would choose him because he was stronger and that was what the universe had planned.

I stood to phase back, as David did the same. I turned to walk towards Taylor. Trisha was standing by him, petting his fur, speaking softly, trying to get him to phase back, and watching David and I. We both stood looking at her, completely naked and without any words to make up for what she had seen. I hoped she hadn't seen much of the fight, but I knew by the look in her eyes, she had seen it all. Trisha stepped away as Taylor phased back. Collin carried him towards our house, as Trisha moved towards us.

I was running through my head what I should say. I knew she was pissed at me, not just for the fight, but for ignoring her for so long. And, I was embarrassed. She had basically just seen me get my ass kicked by the pack's dumbest member.

She moved towards David and I, still staring at us, as she raised her hand and slapped David across the cheek.

TRISHA'S POV

My hand stung and I heard the bones crack, but I didn't care. My Ethan. He tried to kill my Ethan.

"How dare you?! How dare you touch him?!" I screamed at David.

David shook his head at me, "I'm sorry. I just…"

"No, you don't get to talk," I pushed him, jabbing my finger into his chest, knowing I was inflicting absolutely no pain on him at all. "Why can't you leave me the hell alone? Huh? I've told you, repeatedly, that I don't want you. I want nothing to do with you. I wish," I stumbled over my next words, "I wish you'd have never been born!"

Tears were rolling down my cheeks, and I couldn't quit looking at Ethan. He wouldn't look at me though. He kept his head to the ground, as David's eyes started to fill with tears. He ran off, as Ethan stood there. I went to put my hand on Ethan's cheek but he pushed it away.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I don't need you to console me. I'm not a child," Ethan snapped, still looking down, looking ashamed. "And I don't need you to defend me. I can take care of myself!" He ran off. He left me. I was only thinking of him and he left me. I hadn't seen him in so long, and being so close to him made my body ache. And he left.

I saw Collin still carrying Taylor as Embry helped Mark up. I looked at Mark, shaking my head. I was going to cry again. Why?! Why was I not out of freakin' tears by now?! Mark looked a little embarrassed, as he stood up completely naked. By now, seeing the wolf-boys naked like that, after transforming from giant wolves, didn't really affect me the way it would have most girls. Sure, it was hot. But once you've seen it, over and over, it kind of loses its appeal.

"It's okay, Mark. Just get up," I said, walking towards the Wahalla house.

I knew some major shit was about to go down. The whole pack was at the Wahalla house for a pack dinner. This was not going to be good. Taylor was hurt, Mark had caused it, I made David cry, and Ethan, well, who the fuck knows what's going on with Ethan!

The ruckus started as soon as Collin made it in the door. It took one look at Taylor's broken body to send everyone into an uproar.

"I'll call Carlisle," Sam said, moving to the phone.

Kim looked at Sam, scowling, "Yeah, you better! It's your fucking sons' fault he's like this!"

Emily moved forward to Kim, "Shut up, Kim! You weren't there! You don't know what happened!"

"And you fucking do?!" Kim snapped.

I was coherent and I knew what was going on but I couldn't process the fact that the women I love were being so heartless to each other. And more than that, it was my fault. I think Mom sensed my feelings, as she stepped in.

"Both of you stop it! This is ri-goddamn-diculous! Do you see Trisha? Do you see what this is doing to her?! I've been living with a fucking zombie since this whole imprint mess started!" Mom yelled to both of them.

"So who do you want your daughter to choose, Rachel? It's a fair question," Emily asked.

"No, no, you don't! You don't fucking put this on me! At this point, she could pick Mark for all I fucking care! I just want my daughter back! I want her whole again!" Mom started to tear up.

"This has gone on long enough! Kim, you need to tell your son to back the hell off. This whole mess would have been settled months ago if Ethan had left Trisha alone," Emily said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on just a second! What makes you think Trisha would give into the imprint! In case you haven't noticed, she hates your imbecile of a son. Honestly, Emily, I've met yams with more going on upstairs than David!"

"Oh, and Ethan's any better?! That boy has his head in clouds most of the time. He's just a no-balls-too sensitive-pussy-animal lover and Trisha does not belong with him. A strong, independent girl like her belongs with a strong Alpha that can take care of her and protect her."

Kim was closing in on Emily's space and I knew what was coming. Kim was not tolerant of someone attacking her children.

"No, Trisha needs someone she can have an intelligent conversation without having to use grunts and hand signals!" Kim said, as she extended her right hand and shoved Emily.

"Oh shit," I heard Mom say, as Sam slammed down the phone, moving in between Kim and Emily. Jared walked in front of Kim, pulling her behind him protectively.

"What the fuck, Uley?!" Jared said.

"Control your wife, Wahalla!" Sam yelled in Jared's face.

"My wife can take care of herself! Maybe you should tell your wife to back the fuck off my son!" Jared rebutted.

It felt a little like Jerry Springer, as Jared pushed Sam, then Sam pushed Jared, then all hell broke loose! Punches were thrown, the word "fuck" or a derivative of it was said a total of 15 times, and both men ended up on the floor. It was kind of ironic that Mark pulled Sam off of Jared, as Taylor hobbled into the kitchen.

"What happened?" He asked.

"We're leaving!" Sam said, grabbing Emily and Mark.

Dad wasn't far behind, walking in the kitchen to grab Mom and myself.

"Paul," Jared started, but Dad put his hand up.

"Save it, Jared." I couldn't figure out why Dad was mad at Jared. In all honesty, he was just reacting like a husband should, protecting his wife from a threat he thought he saw.

One by one, everyone left the Wahalla house. My family sat in silence in the car watching them leave.

"What a great way to spend Saturday night, huh?" Dad said, shaking his head.

Mom turned around to look at me. "How's your hand?"

I had even forgotten that it hurt. Not because the pain wasn't there, but because they pain in my heart was greater than any physical pain I could have felt.

I shook my head, not knowing what to say. She gingerly took my hand, flipping it over, looking at it, and then kissing it.

"Paul, I think we might need to go to the ER. It looks broken."

Dad started the car and we drove to the hospital. They did the whole x-ray thing, put me in a cast, and sent me home, where I spent some much needed time by myself. I lay in bed that night thinking and I came to several conclusions:

My hand hurt like a bitch.

This imprint was tearing the pack apart.

Not only did my Dad hate me still, but now the women that I loved couldn't stand each other or me.

I would let Ethan go. If he wanted me, he would know where to find me. But I was tired, and I couldn't keep watching my love for him rip away years of relationships among others. When the time was right, if it was right, he would come back to me. Until then, I would make no attempt to contact him or see him. This was now his decision, no longer mine.

That night, like so many nights to follow, I cried myself to sleep.

*NEXT CHAPTER: "Librarians Don't Lie"