Title: Better Than a Soap Opera
Chapter: What's With All the Imprinting?
Summary: Curious, Sam and Jared hold a conversation about the imprinting a lot of the pack seemed to be going through lately. After all, wasn't that just a legend within the legend?
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?
I watched as Jared devoured yet another plate of Emily's cooking--his third, in fact. I had to admit, it was hard to resist. Emily was amazing. Simply amazing. And I guess it really helped to imprint on a girl who could fill a wolf's belly. Jared looked up, giving me a toothy grin. I smiled at him in return, amused by him. He was a good kid, Jared, only a few years younger than me, but age didn't seem to matter to a wolf. We could live and live, live very full and many lives, pretty much.
Not our imprints, though. Not them, but we did. Why? For what purpose would we meet our imprints in the first lives we experience as wolves?
Even Taha Aki didn't meet his until his third life. Third life, third wife. Strange, but besides the point.
"Paul imprinted," Jared said, interrupting my thoughts that were already along the same the lines.
"That's four so far. You, me, Paul, and Quil." I ticked each name off with a finger. That was almost a full freakin' hand.
"Why? Not that I'm against it. Meeting Kim, really meeting her, has changed my life, Sam. But I don't get it," Jared admitted, pushing his plate away from him. His shoulders slumped, defeated by his confusion. I nodded, understanding why he felt this way. I felt it, too. We all did.
"It's not something that was very common. I've listened and re-listened to those stories. All I can tell is that Taha Aki imprinted, and one of his grandsons. That's it. Why? Why is always the question in our case, isn't it?"
"That and how." Jared laughed, trying to lighten our darkening moods. "Sam?"
"What?" I picked his plate off the table and put in the sink for Emily. She enjoyed housework, and I enjoyed making it easier on her. Plus, I was trying to think this over. Think things through. I was their Alpha, but I didn't know how to answer their questions. The water was scalding over my hands as I scrubbed the plate clean. I felt the heat, but it didn't seem out of place. Jared was staring at me when I turned back around.
"The sons that defeated the Cold One, in the story about the third wife's sacrifice..." Jared started to say, but he shook his head, shutting up before even finishing his sentence.
"Go on," I prompted, plopping back down in my seat, waiting for him to figure it out.
"Well, they were all children of the third wife, right? Yaha Uta, the others that killed the second one, they were her children, right?" Jared asked, his eyes bright with excitement and theory.
My eyebrows rose as I thought over what he was saying. "You're right. They were the children of Taha Aki and his imprint. You think..." I frowned, narrowing my eyes at Jared in thought. His face was blank, but I knew he was thinking it over the same as I was. Taha Aki imprinted, and then sons were born that were able to defeat the Cold Ones. His other children, from the previous wives, were unable to complete that task, but not the third wife's children. They did it. They were... What? "Superior?"
"Do you think that her children had an advantage? That fate brought the third wife to Taha Aki, bringing together..." Jared groaned, trying to figure out how to finish that. What were the right words? I didn't know, either. I knew, but didn't know how to express them verbally.
"It's like the perfect combination of DNA for the ultimate wolf," I finally said, surprised by my words. It made so much sense. It made such complete sense that it frightened me. My love for Emily, was it not real? Was my betrayal of Leah for breeding pups? "I think that we imprint to create stronger wolves."
"Is that what Kim and Emily are?" Jared asked softly, obviously hurt by our theory as well. "Are they just baby machines to us? To strengthen what we are?"
"I don't think that's the question we should be asking ourselves, Jared. There's something else that we should be asking," I said to him. He stared at me hard, as if trying to read my mind though we were in human form. My frown became even deeper, and I was hoping he would get it without me having to actually ask the question out loud.
Jared shook his head, not fully understanding what I meant. Maybe the whole Kim thing was really tearing him up. I hurt, too, for Emily and Leah, but what had happened was in the past. There wasn't a way of changing the imprint, and I knew, absolutely knew, that Emily was the right person for me. Regardless of why she was right: Either because soul mates existed or she would give birth to my enhanced kids, I just knew that she was.
"Four of us have imprinted. So far. Who knows which of us remaining might imprint next, if it happens. Think about it, though, Jared, if our theory on the third wife's children is true. They imprinted, had kids, and those kids took down the threat of vampires. That was one imprint," I began to explain, trying to shove these possible facts down his throat.
Understanding made Jared's eyes open wider and his mouth drop open. "Do you mean that... So many of us are imprinting because a bigger threat is on the way?"
"Not in this lifetime, obviously, but wouldn't nature try to counter an unnatural event by creating super wolves? I think so many of us are imprinting so that we have a chance against what this threat might be."
Jared suppressed a shiver, but I saw the tiny convulsion run along his body. I didn't blame him. Something about what we had to come up with felt so right, like the first time I met Emily. I needed Emily... I needed her to counter something that she might not even be alive for one day in the future. But our children will live on, strong, fast, wolves.
"I'm thinking that we should probably keep this from Emily and Kim and Rachel. Claire, too, when the time comes," Jared suggested, his mouth twisted in humor. He was probably thinking of how Kim would react to such news.
I thought that the girls would take it in stride. After all, they didn't much mind the imprint. Why not tell them why imprinting could possibly occur?
"They can handle it," I told him, confident of my words. These women were much tougher than Jared seemed to give them credit for. I've seen Emily's overwhelming strength firsthand.
"Yes, I can see it now. 'Emily, I just wanted you to know, you imprinted with me so that we could make babies.'" Jared started cracking up, his laughter loud and obnoxious. I pushed the table at him, not finding any humor at his stupid impression of me.
"Unlike you, I wouldn't be so damn tactless when talking to her. I can see why you would hesitate to tell Kim if that's how you would put it," I muttered, shaking my head at his ongoing laughter.
"You're a jerk, you know that? I wouldn't tell Kim that. I wouldn't tell her at all!"
"Wouldn't tell me what?" It was just our luck that both Kim and Emily came back into the room, curious to see what all the noise Jared was making was about. I smiled at Jared, and he gulped to see the wicked look I had put on.
"Jared and I believe we imprinted so that we will have enhanced children, Emily. However, Jared would like to tell Kim that he couldn't wait to start on the baby making," I told them with such a convincing straight face, Jared groaned loudly.
"Really, Jared?" Kim asked him, her face a calm mask, but I could see that she was angry. Jared was defenseless to her.
Emily came over to me, smiling softly as she touched her hand to my cheek. She leaned down, whispering in my ear, "You really think that's why we imprinted?"
I kissed her scarred cheek softly, holding her close to my body. "The purpose maybe, but it doesn't matter. We were made for each other, children or no children. We could have none, and I would still carry you in my heart."
"Glad to hear."
I kissed her again, knowing that whatever happened, at least I had Emily to always be at my side.