Title: Better Than a Soap Opera

Chapter: Well, Jacob Isn't Going To Like This...

Summary: The story of when Paul and Rachel met, and how she handled the news of werewolves and imprinting.

AN: Italics are the pack and the imprints interrupting Paul's story. Lol.

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Twilight. That's all Stephenie Meyer. I just like the empty holes I can fill up with my imagination. :3 But, really, who doesn't find joy in fan fiction?

When I woke up that morning--hungry and grouchy--I had the strangest impulse to jog along the beach. Usually, after my breakfast, I would run in the forest, phasing to do so. This was an urge that couldn't be beat, so I got up, hurriedly threw some clothes on, and left the house without even eating. My stomach growled loudly, and I wondered what I was thinking, leaving the house without grabbing something at least. Maybe some pop-tarts. I have some of those new hot chocolate kind, and they are so great. Just thinking of them made my stomach roar at me, angry that I was neglecting it. But I continued to be a neglectful caretaker and made my way down to the beach.

It was nice outside, and the beach was beautiful. The sun was out, gleaming off the water pushing slowly to the shore. I stared at it as I started to jog, mesmerized. It was like I'd never seen the damn sun reflecting off water before. You would have thought I was an idiot, running without looking.

... Or maybe you already thought I was an idiot. But this is definitely beside the point.

So, I'm running, not looking where I'm going. There's the point. All of a sudden, I slam right into something else. A body, apparently, because it's either that or I have just grown exta limbs, and I've never heard any wolf stories about mutation. Whoever it is, they're struggling beneath me; I'm a big guy, so it would make sense that I was crushing this person. A girl, maybe. It feels like a girl beneath me. I slowly turned my head, to look down at my unknown and unplanned captive.

She's glaring back at me when I finally meet her eyes. I find myself feeling sheepish, and I'm really not sure what I should do.

"So I push him off instead," Rachel says, laughing. Jacob glares daggers at us. I cough and continue the story anyway.

She might have been a small girl, but she had some strength in her, and she pushed me off. I rolled to my back, not hurt in the least. Gotta love being a wolfie.

"What do you think you were doing?!" The girl yelled, getting up to her knees as she continues glaring. It was quite a familiar look, too. It reminded me of a certain someone in the pack.

"Running?"

"Into people," she muttered, brushing sand out of her hair.

"I'm, uh, sorry. I should have been looking."

"Yes. You should have." The girl looked back at me, and we are really looking at each other now. A spark of recognition lights up her eyes, and I notice just how pretty they are. How pretty she is. "Hey, I know you."

"Do you?" I had no clue who she was.

"Go figure, Paul," Quil laughs, shaking his head.

"Paul, right?" She asked, just to make sure, but I think... I think I would have agreed if she called me Ringo Starr. I nodded. My fingers began to itch, and I realized that I had a desire to touch her. Her hair, her hand, her face.

"Get on with the story!" Jacob groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I leaned forward, smiling at her. It was like the world had shifted. Not like my vision wavered and colors all flooded together as one or anything stupid like that. It was more like I knew, had always known, that I would be with this girl. It was just a certain sort of knowledge that came with actually looking into her eyes. "Who are you?"

She laughed. "Have you forgotten me already?" I blinked at her, slowly, trying to remember her name. How could I love somebody and not remember her name? I was getting off to a rough start already. "I'm Rachel. Rachel Black, Jacob's sister?"

I let out something that was both a sigh and a groan. Wonderful. I find the girl I'm supposed to be with forever and ever... And she's my own pack brother's sister. Now, how was I supposed to think about her or... Do anything--

"You just automatically assume that we're going to be doing anything? Sexual, you mean? You're such a pervert, Paul," Rachel groans, looking like she doesn't know how to fix me from this fixation.

With her without letting Jacob know. Not that I couldn't take him on. He would get a beat--

"I hope you remember the last time you thought you could take Jacob down," Sam reminds me, and I sigh.

"Can I finish this, or would you all like to finish this for me?"

"We can hear your thoughts, you know," Leah enjoys pointing out to me. Thank you, Captain Obvious. "We can hear this story like that. In fact, we pretty much have."

"Well, you damn harpy, maybe I want to recount to Rachel how it was for me when we met. Is that so terrible?"

"And you couldn't tell her in private?" Embry asks, pushing a stick through the dirt.

"That's so sweet!" Both Emily and Rachel say at the same time. So, Sam sticks it out for Emily's sake. And because Sam doesn't leave, the others just fall in line, grumbling as they do so. I grin at both girls.

"Rachel?" I finally remembered. She was the one who had gone off to college. "What are you doing home?" I know she tried to avoid this place as much as possible, but only because of Jacob's mind.

She blushed, and I smiled at her. She was just so beautiful. "I just graduated. Early, and I guess I had no other choice but come home. I haven't seen Jacob or Dad in awhile, so... Here I am!" She spread her arms out, looking around her.

I couldn't help it. It just seemed like an invitation to me. So, I hugged her. I squeezed her to me, sighing happily. "I'm glad you did, Rachel."

She hesitated. I counted the seconds that she waited. Three and a half. Sorta. But her arms closed down around my neck, and she settled against my body. "You're so warm!"

"Yeah."

"Like Jacob."

"Yeah."

"You guys are so big, too. What's up with that?"

I hesitated this time. What was the protocol on the whole "I imprinted on you, and now you're the mate of a werewolf. Congratulations!" thing? I know that Kim wasn't told immediately. Claire was too young. And Emily...

I didn't want to hold back from Rachel, though. I wanted her to know everything about me right that minute. Including that time when I was ten, and I stole girls underwear from a store out in Port Angeles because these guys had dared me too, and I just couldn't back down and make them think I was too scared to do it...

"Erm... You could have kept that to yourself," Kim tells me, lifting one eyebrow up in worry. Rachel is looking at me strange, too, now.

"You didn't keep those, right?"

The whole pack laughs.

"Moving on!"

"Paul!"

"Your brother and I are werewolves! And so is Sam and Quil and Jared and Collin and the Clearwaters..." I started to ramble, listing off the names of the pack. She stared at me, confusion written all over her face. "We are here to protect the tribe from those damn bloodsuckers on the hill. The Cullens? You've heard of them, right?"

She leaned away from me, staring at me as if I was mental.

"You are," Leah quips.

"Um, Paul...? What are you talking about?" Rachel inquired. She started to let me go. Was the imprint impulse not strong on her right now? Was that why Jared waited on telling Kim?

"I waited because I'm not an idiot, Paul," Jared mutters, hugging Kim close.

"Wow, Rachel. I didn't know he just went all out there with you. If Jared had immediately told me, I would have freaked out," Kim tells Rachel, but my girl just shrugs. Rachel's a pro.

"We are the descendants of Taha Aki. The Cold Ones? The stories?"

"What about them?"

"They're all true!" I grinned at her, hoping she would understand.

She didn't. "Wow. I think I need to go now."

She got up and began walking away from me. I, on the other hand, was stumped. This was not going well for me at all. "Ra-Rachel!"

Rachel turned around, tilting her head at me. "Paul... Have you ever had a psych evaluation?"

I stared at her, mentally beating the crap out of myself. Why was she being so difficult about this? Even Bella took it better than this! And she wasn't even imprinted on! "No."

"You should probably check that out."

"W-wait!" I got up, running after her. "Rachel, just hear me out. What if I proved it to you?"

"How are you going to do that?" She stopped walking and turned to me instead now, curiosity in her eyes. "There's not a full moon out here."

"Come on, Rachel. You've heard the tales. Ever heard of a full moon in them?" I asked her, grinning.

"No," she reluctantly admitted. She knew the stories as well as anybody here. Her father was big on telling them... And believing them.

"Just... Let me phase for you, okay?"

"How do I know, if this is possible, that you won't attack me?"

Sam hissed softly. "No guarantees." But he was saying it more to himself than anybody else. He couldn't very well scold me now, even though I was the most reckless.

"I won't. But I need you to turn around," I told her, blushing slightly. "Clothes don't exactly phase with us."

"Oh, very well!" She exclaimed, turning in the sand, her back to me as I hurriedly undressed. I had been shifting so much, especially as of late, the change was quick for me. Instantaneous. I could already feel Collin, Brady, and Seth out in the woods.

Wait to go, Paul. Another imprint, Collin congratulated. I could hear Brady snort.

Seth laughed in my head. Well, Jacob isn't going to like this...

Shut up.

I barked at Rachel, who turned around so quickly, she could have been a wolf with that speed. She fell back in the sand, her mouth open and eyes wide with complete shock. Not fear, just surprise that I had proved her wrong. "P-p-paul?"

I rolled over onto my back as an answer, exposing my belly. She leaned forward, hesitated and pulled back, then reached her hand out to touch me. Her face was still a mask of complete surprise. "Wow." She continued to run her fingers through my thick fur. "I believe you now. I'm going to turn around now so you can change back and we can talk about this." She was so calm, and I absolutely loved her for that.

When I phased back and had at least put my jeans on, she came to sit next to me in the sand. She grabbed my hand, holding it even though hers was so small in comparison. "Tell me it all."

"You're okay with this?" I asked her. I had to be sure. If she didn't want me like I wanted her...

Rachel sighed, pushing her hair behind her ear with her free hand. She took a moment before answering me. "It's so strange. I never believed these stories. And now they seem to be true. More than that, Paul, and I don't know why, but I know I'm safe with you. I feel comfortable. I believe you. I believe that you were just a wolf. I believe that the Cold Ones exist. In fact..."

"In fact what?"

"I believed you even before you showed me. I was just confused."

"Yeah. This imprint thing is confusing."

"Imprint?"

"Strange enough, I was even okay with that. I've dated a few other guys before, and I thought I loved them. This was different. It was right," Rachel tells them all. Even though the pack can read my thoughts, they can't read hers, and I can see that they were mildly curious as to how she felt about the imprint matter. Of course, they also knew that Rachel kicked sand in my face and ran away the moment I told her what imprinting was. Not that the other girls really needed to know that.

"Seth, you're a smart kid," Jacob huffs.

The younger Clearwater sibling grins. "Yeah. I just know you too well."

"I think even if Rachel was the sister of some other guy out there, he wouldn't want Paul to date her," Leah mutters, shaking her head at me.

"Your words warm my heart, Leah..." I say, pulling Rachel closer to me.

No other guy will have their hands on my Rachel. She is mine, forever and ever.

As long as Jacob didn't try to kill me when he heard that.