Hey, sorry for the wait. Here is the final chapter of Why Me?
Chapter 20 – The Talk
Seth's POV
I watched helplessly as Jasper struggled to calm Lucy down. Eventually he did and she even sank into a state of unconsciousness, which worried me slightly, but Jasper said was not permanent. He seemed quite drowsy himself, but said that it was just a side effect of so much calm. I was a little sceptical about this myself; however I supposed that it could be the only reason since vampires didn't sleep.
"Seth, man, while Lucy's out of it, why don't you have a kip? You haven't slept properly for like forty eight hours. If not more." Jake said, looking at me strangely, almost as though he was impressed with my staying power. I shrugged, realising as I did so, that actually I was about to crash. I just managed to drag myself to one of the Cullens' beds when I hit the deck and fell asleep.
Eventually, I came to slowly, realising while I was doing so, that a cold hand was softly stroking my head. Moaning, I opened my eyes. Lucy looked at me with wide eyes. I was struck by how beautiful she was, especially now that she had golden eyes.
"I didn't wake you did I?" she asked worriedly.
"Of course not," I reassured her, "A person can only sleep for so long. What time is it?"
"Midnight," she replied.
"What? I only slept five hours?" I asked, alarmed.
She laughed, "No silly! You slept for twenty nine hours! You were absolutely knackered! We were getting quite worried."
"Twenty –nine hours? God; that must be a world record!" Lucy laughed again, and I took a few seconds to bask in the glorious sound she made when she laughed.
All of a sudden, my stomach growled with hunger, and I blushed slightly, realising at the same time quite how starving I was.
But all Lucy did was laugh again, "Typical boy," she giggled, "Always thinking about food!"
"Hey!" I protested.
"Come on," she grinned, "Let's go downstairs and cook you up some breakfast. I make a mean full English." My mouth watered at the thought, as I hurried down the stairs, after Lucy, who'd gone almost before she'd finished the sentence to light the rarely used grill and get started on my breakfast.
I was just wolfing down my third helping of delicious scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, which, as promised were exceptionally tasty, when Edward and Bella came in. Their eyes were a pale golden and Bella had a rip in her t-shirt. They'd obviously just been hunting, which surprised me, as normally overnight they would be doing... other things. But the reason for not doing those things was soon made clear
Bella and Edward exchanged a glance as they came in and I noticed Lucy eyeing them suspiciously, probably for the same reason that I was surprised. Immediately I didn't trust them either.
"Good, you're awake. We'd like to speak to you." Edward said.
Bella smacked him, "Don't be so rude, Edward," she chastised.
"Sorry love. Good morning, er, night Seth. How are you now?"
"Good thanks," I grinned, amused at their little exchange.
"Well rested?" asked Bella.
"Nah," I joked, "I think I might need to go back to bed after this."
She smiled, "Well, could you wait, maybe, half an hour?" she said, playing along, "As Edward said, I would like a word with you first."
"Sure," I said, guessing that this would be the reason I was supposed to be suspicious. In all honesty, I didn't actually know why I didn't trust them; just that Lucy did, which meant I did too.
"Yes, and could I speak to you to please Lucy?" added Edward. I immediately didn't like this plan, as it meant that I would be separated from Lucy, and after all we'd been through, I just wanted to stay by her side the whole time.
"Yeah, ok," she said dubiously.
"Shall we go to the cottage?" he suggested.
"Um, yeah, why not?" and she followed him out of the door at top speed. It hurt to see her go, but, I tried to reason with myself, I would probably see her again very shortly. It didn't really work, and I had to fight the urge to follow her.
"So, Bella," I said, turning to her, "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Well, basically, your relationship with Lucy," she replied.
"What about it?" I asked defensively.
Bella smiled again, "Nothing serious; it's more about defining boundaries and what those boundaries must be."
In felt my cheeks heating up as I realised what she was talking about. I may have been nineteen, but I was pretty much completely inexperienced, saving myself for my imprint, but that gave me a fairly immature view on those aspects of a relationship.
"Oh."
"Don't worry," Bella said, a faint grin on her face as she took in my reddened complexion, "I'm not going to go into gory details." I heaved a silent sigh of relief; I definitely wasn't ready for that, "I just want to briefly explain the problems Edward and I had at first, although some of that is irrelevant to you, and remind you of a few key points."
"Well, I guess we can't really have s-sex, can we?" I said, stumbling over the word 'sex', "I mean, because vampire venom is toxic to us, and that, like, is in her whole body."
"Yes, that's right. As far as we know, you two can't exchange any bodily fluid at all. Well, Lucy can ingest yours, but she would probably find it disgusting."
"Charming," I muttered, "I'm not sure I'd want her to ingest my bodily fluids anyway."
Bella laughed. "The other thing is despite the fact that you are stronger than most humans, Lucy is still far stronger than you while you are in human form, so just be mindful of that fact. Tell her if it hurts or something."
"Why would it hurt?" I asked naively.
"Well..." I swear if Bella could have blushed at that point, she would have been crimson. "There are other, um, activities that you can do, and, well, just be careful, ok?"
I went purple, hideously embarrassed by what she was insinuating, and I didn't blame her in the slightest for being uncomfortable.
"Um, right," I muttered.
We sat in silence for a couple of seconds.
Eventually I said, "Um, is there anything else you have to say? It's just that, I should probably go and check on Mom. She hasn't seen me for a few days, and she might be worried. I also want to get some stuff, as I seem to be living here now, and I need a change of clothes."
"Sure, sure you go and do that. I'll just head back to the cottage."
"If you see Lucy, can you tell her where I am, so, if she wants, she can come and join me?"
"Sure, I'll tell her."
"Well, I'll be off then."
"Yeah, me too."
We parted awkwardly, and I ran off quickly to go and see Mom, and to start packing. I didn't know where this had come from; I just knew that's what I was going to do, and I was anxious to get started.
Lucy's POV
I followed Edward, curious and suspicious of his intentions. Suspicious because, even in the short time that I'd been here, I knew that Bella and Edward never went hunting at night, and they clearly had been, so I reckoned they'd been talking at the same time. And curious, because that's just my nature.
When we got to the house, I stood in the living room, near the fire, looking expectantly at Edward.
"Sit down," he said, gesturing to the sofa, while making his way to the armchair. I complied, gazing suspiciously at his smooth expressionless face all the while.
Once I was seated, Edward smiled at me, "You have a right to be suspicious; Bella and I have been talking, and although she was reluctant to do it, we have decided to talk to you and Seth separately."
"Why?"
Edward hesitated, "It would be less...embarrassing this way, we believe."
"Okay," I said slowly, "So what do you want to talk about then?"
"Well," Edward paused, and for a second, he almost looked uncomfortable, "To put it simply, boundaries."
I looked at him uncomprehendingly, "What do you mean?"
"Well, you know why a wolf imprints don't you?"
"Yes, it's to continue the genetic li–" Realisation hit me in a flash. "Oh God, Edward! We're not having the sex talk are we?"
"Not exactly. But we do need to talk about limitations."
"I'm fifteen! It's not even legal for me! Just no!"
Edward raised an eyebrow at me, "Are you telling me that you've never even thought about it with Seth? Relationships have to move forward you know."
"Easy enough for you to say," I muttered, lowering my eyes. The truth was, I had thought about it, but we hadn't even got to kissing or anything along those lines yet, so I dismissed my thoughts as idle fantasies.
Edward looked at me sympathetically, "I know you haven't got to that stage yet, but one day you will. And you don't want to be completely unprepared do you? You'll need to know what you can and can't do."
"Like what?" I asked, a little apprehensive of the answer.
"Lucy, vampires and werewolves are sworn enemies; they're not likely to have sex all that often." If I could have, I would have blushed. Instead, I just stared fixedly at the fire, embarrassed by the word sex.
"So, what do I need to know?" I asked, trying to get this over with as quickly as possible.
"Vampire venom and the fluid that enables us to move et cetera, is toxic to werewolves, so you have to be careful with all aspects of sex. In fact, this limits you a lot in what you can do, but I shall let you two figure that out for yourselves, and discover your boundaries." I cringed at the thought of having to talk about this again with Seth.
Edward continued, undeterred "The other thing is that Seth is not as strong, or indestructible as you are. He may be more robust than humans, but you still need to be careful. You shouldn't get over-excited, for example." I stared at Edward in horror at the idea of getting 'over-excited' with Seth.
"I'm just saying," he went on hurriedly, "I have to warn you of the difficulties you will encounter in a relationship such as yours."
"Um, ok then. Er, is there anything more?" I said tentatively, dreading a positive answer.
"No, that's all," Edward said, "Unless you have any questions."
"Just one," I replied, and for a second he looked nervous, "Why did you talk to me and Bella to Seth? Wouldn't it have been less embarrassing and awkward to do it girl-to-girl and guy-to-guy?"
"Probably," Edward admitted, looking relieved that I hadn't asked him anything more about mine and Seth's relationship, "But although we didn't actually use it in our conversation, it was to do with our personal experiences. I always had to be careful when I was with Bella, and she had to understand why I couldn't do certain things. We wanted to give it to you from our own perspectives."
"That makes sense," I nodded, also relieved that my non-cringe worthy question had such a clear and non-embarrassing answer.
At that moment, Bella entered.
"I heard you'd finished," she said, and turned to me, "Lucy, Seth's gone to his place. He wants you to join him there."
"Oh, right, ok then. I'll be off. See you guys later." I sped off, eager to be with Seth again, but I hadn't gone far when I heard the sound of them making love, and rolled my eyes. The perfect ending to such an embarrassing night.
All of a sudden, I understood Nessie's problem with her parents. No one wanted to hear that on a regular basis. Or ever.
Couldn't they have waited until I was out of earshot? I thought, and I distinctly heard Edward grunt a quick "No!"
I shuddered in disgust and put on a burst of speed, trying to get out of hearing range.
"Hey, Lucy," Mrs Clearwater greeted me, when she opened the door.
"Hi Mrs Clearwater, Bella told me that Seth was here. You don't happen to know where he is, do you?"
"Please, call me Sue. And, yes, he's just upstairs, packing some clothes. He's finally decided to move to the Cullen house officially. About time too, if you ask me; he's always over there anyway, especially since he met you, and whenever he's here he's like a wet blanket, simply because he's not with you."
I smiled, "Well, I'll make sure he still visits you occasionally. Nobody should lose contact with their mother." I sighed, a part of me wishing I could see my mother again, but knowing that it would be impossible.
"You should definitely come too. I'd love to see you more often."
"But aren't you worried about what I am?" I asked, frowning in confusion, "I mean, I could hurt you."
"No, I don't think you could," Sue said confidently, "Seth told me what you did to get here. If you can do that, I think I can trust you to spend a few hours here without hurting me or Charlie."
"Well, if you're sure," I said.
"Now, aren't you here to see my son, not natter with an old woman like me? Go on, get upstairs, and stop him moping."
I grinned at her, "Thanks Sue," I said, and made my way upstairs at human pace, so as not to alarm her, although I think she was a pretty strong woman, who didn't scare easily.
I found my way quickly to Seth's room, easily finding my way by following the sound of his heartbeat.
I knocked, and entered quickly. Seth looked up, and his face broke into a large grin. I found myself beaming back at him, as he jumped up and gave me a massive hug. I hugged him back, and he muttered
"I missed you,"
"I've only been gone about half an hour,"
"I know, but it felt like ages. Come on, sit down while I pack." He said, releasing me, and gesturing to his messy bed. However, I couldn't see any signs of him packing, as he himself had been lying on his bed when I'd come in, not actually doing anything except staring at the ceiling.
"You've made a good start then," I noted dryly.
He looked sheepish, "I didn't feel like it ok? I just wanted to be with you."
"Well, you're with me now, so get to it! Chop, chop!" I made motions with my hand, as though to chivvy him along, while flopping on the bed.
"Yes Ma'am," he saluted, and pulled a bag from under his bed. However he stayed down there, rootling around for something else.
"So what did Edward want to talk to you about?" he asked, voice slightly muffled by the bed.
"Oh, you know... sex." I said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing.
Seth pulled his head out from under the bed, and looked at me, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks.
"You too, huh?"
"Yup, boundaries et cetera. It was literally, the most embarrassing thing ever."
"Easily."
There was silence for a couple of seconds.
"I guess we should talk about it too, shouldn't we?" Seth said tentatively, and I could see that he didn't want to.
I sighed, "Yeah, we should."
Silence.
"So, do you need help with that packing?" I said in a business like tone of voice.
"Please," he replied, grinning.
We didn't get round to talking about it with each other. We knew we would have to one day, but we hadn't got to that stage yet, and maybe by then we would be a bit more mature, but at the moment, we were happy just to be with each other, and getting used to being soul mates. I'd had so much turbulence with love in the past year, which of course Seth understood, so I wasn't in any state to move forward in our relationship for a while.
But while I was helping Seth pack his things, so that we could basically live together, I was thinking about the fight with my creators, and how bitterly I had struggled. I couldn't live with the idea of Seth being in pain, in any way at all, and I realised something very profound.
"Seth, I love you," I blurted out, without thinking.
"Um, thanks," he said, looking at me strangely, "I love you too."
"No, I mean it, I really love you. It's like, like Matt doesn't exist anymore. I love you."
"Lucy, I mean it too," he said softly, "As my imprint, I will always love you. And not just because I have to."
I suddenly felt a warm glow spread through me, and it wasn't because Seth was hugging me again. He loved me, and I love him, and I had never felt happier, or more content.
There will be an Epilogue, which I am currently in the middle of writing, and will hopefully get to you soon.
As ever please review. I hope you know that I would love constructive criticism, as long as there is something nice in it as well ;)
Layla x