Sorry it's sooo late - I literally have no excuse, except for the fact that I have been busier than a hyperactive bee! Anyways enjoy!

Chapter 18 – Driving Me Crazy

Seth's POV

"I'll be fine; I've got an edge, remember?" Lucy reminded me, gently, as everyone else got into the monster jeep.

Incredibly reluctantly, I slid into the back, next to Jake and Nessie.

"Don't worry Seth, Lucy can take care of herself," he reassured me, as I watched, the other two bloodsuckers being forcibly pushed into the front and then held down by Edward, Jasper and Emmett. Carlisle drove and everyone else was clinging to some part of the framework, or running alongside. Everyone was in a rush to get back to the house. Except for me. I ached to return, and protect my Lucy, but as if Jake was the one who could read my thoughts, he put his hand on my chest.

"Come on, man it's only a couple of hours. And like she said, she's got the advantage. Chill."

"What if it was Nessie?" I said bluntly.

He tensed, "That's different."

"Pah!" Nessie snorted, "Of course it is Jake! Just let Seth worry for a bit! But seriously Seth, she'll be fine."

"If you insist," I muttered.

"Oh I don't know," said the woman maliciously, "Matthew is a pretty good fighter, and he knows about her ability. I made sure of that!"

My snarls ripped through the Jeep, and I so very nearly phased right there, dying to rip her to shreds.

"Easy Seth; they don't know anything! Calm down! For Lucy!" Jake yelled. He said exactly the words that I needed to hear. I took several slow deep breaths, willing the red haze away and my body to stop shaking.

"What's up with him? Anyway, why do you run with a load of stinking humans?" the woman asked, disdainfully, as though she didn't really want to hear the answer.

"Like we're going to tell you!" Jake snorted at her, "As it's our decision to run with you leeches, not theirs to run with us!"

"Ooookaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy." She said, sounding like it didn't make any sense. I smiled grimly. Good, it shouldn't.

All too soon, we got back to the house.

"Am I going to have to force you into the house or will you be a good little vampire and walk there?" Emmett growled.

"Easy tiger. As sexual as I find it to be manhandled by you, I think I can make my own way into the house," Smirked the woman.

This time it was Rosalie who nearly jumped on her; only held back by Bella and Alice.

"Don't even think of running away. There are eight vampires here, half of whom have ability. We will be able to catch you again." Edward warned menacingly.

"Eight. Ooh, I like those odds, don't you darling?" cooed the woman.

She was really getting on my nerves now.

"Jake, I'm heading home. I can't stand this bitch. Call me if you need any help." I muttered to him.

"Sure, I'm staying here. I don't trust these two and I have to protect Nessie. You guys can go too." He said to the others.

So Quil and Leah joined me, running off to phase, and get home as quickly as possible. Embry stayed as he had no imprint to worry about, and his Mum had died the year before in a freak car accident. The pack was now his entire life. I mused on this, as we took off together, and was surprised to find that I felt a little sorry for him.

Don't let him catch you thinking that, warned Quil, he likes that he has no ties.

I know that idiot; it was just an idle thought. I know how happy I am now that I've met Lucy. I just wanted a bit of that for him.

He thinks that he's perfectly happy. But I guess I know what you mean. It would be good for him if he imprinted.

Ugh, guys, stop! Leah's disgust resonated through our link; I think I'm going to be sick! Less of the gooiness please.

Just cause you don't have that closeness! I taunted

I don't want it if you turned into fluffy ball of mush! She retorted, then sped up, barking with laughter as I chased after her. Quil rolled his eyes, then joined in the quick game of chase. It didn't last long, as we were all nervous to get home, and protect our families.

Catch you later! Quil called as he split up from us, to go to his house, and we slowed, preparing to phase back.

But I couldn't stay at home for long. I was twitchier and more hyper than I have ever been in my life, and I just wanted to see Lucy. After a couple of hours of my being unable to settle to anything, even Mom was getting irritated at me. Leah had stormed off to bed earlier, complaining that I was "Annoying as Hell". I heard her on the phone to her boyfriend shortly after. He wasn't her imprint but close enough. Occasionally I still caught her wishing she could have that definite link, and wondering if she should really get in too deep with anyone, in case she did imprint. She didn't want to cause the same sort of pain as Sam had caused her, even though she was well over it now. She and Emily were back to being best friends again. I was glad; it got her off my back the whole time. But I did feel a little sorry about the confusion she was feeling. I too hoped that one day she would find the one she was destined for.

She'd have an easier relationship with him than I did with Lucy, I reflected wryly. Lucy... she might be back already. I had to go see.

"I'm off!" I called to Mom, as I headed out the back door that led straight to the forest.

"Back to the Cullen's?" she asked

"Yep,"

"Stay safe dear," she said as I tore into the woods.

I quickly phased, and ran as if my life depended on it.

But she wasn't there. I decided to stay and hang with Jake and Embry, waiting for Lucy and Matt's return. Matt. Even his name caused me severe irritation and tremors to run down my spine. And I was still just as jumpy. Now I was annoying the pack as well. Embry didn't get at all why I was acting so weirdly. Jake understood...to a degree. But even he didn't get why I was being so extreme.

"But she loved him!" I cried when they asked, "she probably still does. What happens if she decides that she prefers him to me now that he's alive and they don't need to draw any lines for his safety? I can't bear that!"

"She chose you didn't she? In the end you were the one she picked. Don't worry about it."

"She thought he was dead. In her mind there wasn't much choice."

I had them there. Neither of them had any answer for that, and so they dropped it.

Of course it didn't get any easier when she hadn't come back by dawn. And now I was getting seriously worried about her safety as well. Why was it taking her so long? Surely she must have worked through her issues with him by now?

This worrying was exacerbated by lack of sleep; I hadn't slept for over twenty four hours, and when I had it had been short, because of Jake's patrols. He'd claimed that if Lucy could sneak through them, we should do more. So, on the whole I was suffering from lack of sleep.

"Do you want to sleep, Seth, because we have some beds upstairs if you want them?" Edward asked, coming into the room.

"Or you can come to our house and crash there," suggested Bella, right behind him, "It'll help the time pass. We could even get Jasper to induce a coma in you? He did that to me once."

"He would love to. He's getting sick of your worrying."

"Nah, but I will try and sleep I guess. Try and kill a few hours."

It didn't work; I spent half an hour tossing and turning on the luxurious bed in Carlisle and Esme's room, but I really couldn't sleep. My thoughts kept popping back to Lucy and why she wasn't back yet. It didn't help that I could still hear that couple, and their snide comments that they made very loudly and obviously every five minutes. I spent half my time concentrating on keeping my form, and not attacking them. I didn't think that Carlisle and Esme would be very happy if I destroyed their room; and I could almost hear my Dad saying,

"Rise above it. Be the better man", but right then, it seemed impossible that I could do that.

I decided to go into the forest, and burn off the extra energy that was flowing through my veins by running laps around the house, until Lucy returned. And strangely enough, it seemed to work in a way, I mean. The laps flashed by, so much that I was starting to carve a track in the floor. However it also gave me a lot of time to think, although it wasn't as if nothing else had. I had started out counting the laps, to try and take my mind off it, but I kept losing track of where I was, and getting distracted, so I gave up at around a hundred. I know I was burning off a lot of energy that I didn't have, but until Lucy returned safely, I couldn't even contemplate sleep. It was incredible that those people had returned only a few days after Lucy had stopped grieving, almost as if they had known. But that was impossible. Lucy hadn't told us that they had any special power and what would that power do anyway? Tell people's feeling from afar? It seemed unlikely. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

These were the kind of thoughts that were running through my head; once I'd stopped counting, but the more I ran, the more jumbled they were becoming. In a way, it was good; at this rate I would run myself into the ground, into the oblivion of sleep, and that would waste even more time of Lucy-lessness. I stumbled a few times, starting to be unaware of my surrounding, my head too fogged to notice the trees roots that I would normally automatically jump over, or avoid.

But suddenly, the indescribable pull, that told me Lucy was near, twinged, and I staggered with the power of it. This caused me to stumble again, but I was now fully awake and saved myself from near tumbling. I heard a soft thud of feet, by the river, and realised that it must be Lucy returning.

"Thanks," came a low voice, and I wondered what had happened. But not for long, because then the sweetest voice filled the air.

"Let's get this over with," Lucy muttered, and as I ran towards her voice, I realised that my angst might have only just started...

Once again sorry that it's incredibly late! And that it isn't the best chapter ever. i just wanted to get into Seth's mindset at this point, and I hope that I have succeeded!

One quick thing, I'm getting a little bit bummed about lack of reviews, and I was hoping that you guys could just give me, say three reviews? The more reviews I have, the quicker I write, so if you want more story, and the big confrontation, which is happening in the next chapter, I would really aprreciate the reviews! Thank you!

Layla xxx