A/N: Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter that said you all didn't hate me for what happened. Hope posting this one so soon makes up for it. As always, please Review!

I lost track of the time we spent on the beach, but I couldn't tell if she ever fell asleep. Her breathing never varied, not once, and I couldn't bring myself to bend over her to check, scared that I might disturb her. Finally morning came, and I moved a little, drawing her closer to me, knowing that it was time to go back to the house. The twins had stayed in the trees all night, watching over us.
I knew Sam had come by at least once, and I was sure Embry was there right now. Paul would have stayed at the house to watch Rachel. Realizing that she was now awake, I slowly stood, drawing her with me. She watched the waves for a few more minutes before turning to face me. Her eyes were so empty, I wanted to drop to my knees the way Leah had the previous day.
I opened my mouth to ask if she was ok, and all she did was shake her head. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders I guided her back to the house, Brady and Collin following at a safe distance. Once we got there, Rachel told her that we would be driving up to Seattle the next morning, since that was when the police would turn over the body to the family. Her uncle had already made arrangements for the funeral to be the same day.
It was to be a closed coffin, so she didn't even get a final goodbye.

The rest of the day, she stayed in her room, staring out the window at nothing. She ignored us all. When Rachel dragged her out at dinner time to at least eat something, she stayed long enough to drink down some soup, but the second I walked into the room, she fled.
That hurt.
Collin said she had showed signs of wanting to bolt when he and Brady had visited earlier, but her flight had left something aching inside me. I wanted to be around her, to hold her, to get her anything she needed. I wanted to be what Paul was to Rachel. But I could do nothing, not when she had no idea of imprinting or the shape-shifting.

The next day, we were all up bright and early, cars were refueled and whoever was going to Seattle with Rachel and Kaia were waiting on Rachel's porch steps for them to wake up and come outside. Paul, Rachel, Jared, Kim and Emily were going in Paul's truck. Sam, Jake and Leah were staying behind to patrol. Kaia sat beside me, with Embry next to her; she looked so tiny sitting between us that it made my heart seize up just a little.
Ryan and the twins sat in the back seat, Ryan looking almost as bad as Kaia, knowing that Michelle was taking it just as hard as she did. Jason was fond of Michelle and treated her on par with his own baby sister. This was hurting them all. Even after Rachel had explained the circumstances, I couldn't understand why anyone would have wanted to kill him. It seemed so senseless. But at least they had all been caught. Rachel's old contact had broken the rules of the agency, to call Rachel and tell her that he had personally arrested the head of the ring that had caused all the trouble, and it was now closed down for good.

All the way to Seattle, Kaia sat quiet and still, not eating, barely drinking, and not saying a word. Not once. She hadn't spoken since the beach, when she had said just one sentence to me. I knew Rachel was getting worried and I hoped that being with Michelle would break though the walls she had put up. She still hadn't shed a single tear, and I was now getting extremely edgy. She had to mourn, she had to let it out, or it was going to eat at her, on the inside. We pulled into the driveway of the Morgan's house, following Rachel's truck. Only later did I learn that Ryan had showed Paul the way in his memories the previous night. Kaia didn't seem to notice. Until the door on the porch swung open violently and a red headed missile launched herself off the porch and right at her. Luckily I moved to stand just behind them both at the time of impact, grabbing them so nobody fell over. Ryan looked at me, thanks in his eyes. I just nodded and turned to see Mrs. Morgan come hurrying out, eyes red. She hugged Kaia and then Rachel, whispering words of comfort.
Then, to our surprise, she hugged each and every one of the rest of us, in turn, starting with Ryan. No-one was more shocked than him. Especially when Mr. Morgan joined us outside, and followed his wife's example. Then, he ushered all of us into the house, offering us something to eat or drink before we headed to the funeral home.

When we got there, I noticed Kaia immediately stiffen, and a large woman came over. She took Kaia by the arms and looked her over, the way one would a horse for sale. I disliked her immediately. All it took for Ryan to hate her, was one look at Michelle's face. She glared at the newcomer with such venom, it took me by surprise. I learned that day, that Michelle was the type to love, or hate, with great passion.
The woman was Kaia's aunt. She and her husband were Kaia's only living relatives now that Jason was gone. They had never approved of Kaia's father's choice of a bride. Her mother had been an artist, free-spirited and beautiful. She had been devoted to her husband and adored her children until a car crash had taken them both away. Kaia had once said, that the only thing she had in common with her relatives, was the surname they shared.
Her uncle came by then, her father's brother, and I gave thanks that she looked nothing like them. He looked us over, as if wondering if we outsiders would cause a scene. Even thought Kaia still wasn't talking, I saw her lift her chin and step forward slightly, as if she was ready to do battle. It made me proud that she would stand up for us. But he said nothing, just motioned to the hall.

Years later, I would be able to recall every word spoken at that funeral. The reading at the ceremony, the eulogy that a friend from college had given, the prayers spoken over his grave.
I would remember them all so clearly because I knew exactly when Kaia flinched. I knew which words made her wince, which prayers made her close her eyes in pain. The hymn sung by a youngster in the choir, which forced her to look at the coffin in front of her with her hand over her chest.
Michelle sat next to her the whole time, flanked by Ryan and myself. Mr. Morgan had looked at us curiously when we had taken up our positions, but had done nothing, just nodded at Ryan after a moment. With their arms intertwined, they leaned into each other, drawing strength from their bond as almost-sisters.
Once the ceremony was over, Kaia's obnoxious uncle came up to us to tell us there was a wake being held at their home, but he would understand if we couldn't make it. This made Paul speak up and say that we would see them there. Paul always loved a good confrontation, and this man was asking for some serious confronting. Kaia had slipped back into her zombie like state, and the wake seemed to pass around her un-noticed.

When I noticed Kaia leaving the room quietly, I followed, alone. Ryan was worried about Michelle by then. She seemed to be trying to be strong for everyone, and he would know if she was close to losing it. Once we had reached the house for the wake, Mrs. Morgan had asked her husband to take her home.
She was too distraught and she didn't want to upset Kaia any further. Without too much consideration, Ryan had approached them, and offered to get Michelle home safely, so they could leave if they needed to. They had looked at him, Mrs. Morgan, with fresh tears in her eyes, and Mr. Morgan, with a certain kind of pride, at his offer, and agreed. After they had left and Kaia slipped outside, Michelle seemed to deflate. The strong front she was keeping up for her closest ones disappeared and she leaned into Ryan, finally allowing the tears to overcome her.

Outside, I wasn't surprised to be joined by the twins as I tried to figure out in which direction my imprint had gone. Following her unique scent that I knew so well, I walked down the pathway that seemed to wind behind the house. It came to a low stone wall, which we easily vaulted over, and that was when I recalled Kaia once telling me, that her father and his brother had been left houses on adjoining properties. Their own father had built them, and he had wanted his sons to have them. So that must mean we were on the land that her parents had owned, and which would now be left to her. I swallowed once. This seemed like a big place. I had never once considered that Kaia's family might have been rich, or at least well-to-do. I just assumed they were like every other normal family. Shaking off these thoughts, I concentrated on what was important right then. Finding my imprint.

The scent led me to a large tree, overshadowing a tiny little ornamental pond. This spot was hidden from her uncle's house, and I knew she was up in the tree. I got closer and was surprised to suddenly spot a tree-house nestled in the branches above us. The twins looked at each other and then at me, knowing that I got first dibs on going up. But I considered that first. She had been avoiding me the whole time. Since we had left the beach, she wouldn't even stay in the room if I was there. But I had to know she was ok, so I pushed my doubts aside, and went up. Poking my head through the entrance first, so she wouldn't be alarmed, I went in, followed almost instantaneously by Brady and then Collin. She sat in a corner, on what looked like a raggedy old cushion, and clutching a large blue sweatshirt to herself.

She looked up, and for the first time, since she had heard the news, I could see tears form in her eyes. Not wanting to set her back again, I was about to move so that Collin or maybe Brady could comfort her, when I saw it. She moved towards me, her hand outstretched. And then she said the one thing I had been waiting to hear for the past 2 days. My name. "Seth," she rasped, her voice hoarse from disuse.

And that was it. I moved forward and grabbed her in my arms as she finally broke-down, sobbing as if her heart would break. For all I knew it was already broken. But she was finally mourning, finally allowing herself to accept her grief. As she cried, I felt the tight knot in my chest begin to loosen, and I knew that it was because the healing had begun.
She would hurt for a long time, but she would never have to deal with it alone.
I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder and barely heard Brady mutter, "I'm going to tell the others where we are. Collin's staying at the bottom of the tree if you need anything. See you back at the house bro." He then quickly brushed a hand over the top of Kaia's head, before scooting out of the tree-house and down the ladder.

A while later, when the tears had started to abate, Kaia looked up at me, and said, "I'm sorry I kept running away from you, I just.. I didn't want you to be around if I started crying. I didn't want you seeing me like that."
I took her face in my hands and looked her in the eye before I spoke. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. I want to be there for you Kai… and it doesn't matter what its about… I want to be there whenever you need me." I dropped a quick kiss on her forehead, before helping her down the ladder. Collin grabbed her into a quick hug before walking back to the house with us. The others were already outside and climbing into the cars, and I knew I had Brady to thank for that. At least now Kaia could avoid having to talk to her annoying uncle and aunt.

The entire drive back to La Push, Embry seemed on edge. He was driving this leg, since Kaia had started to fall asleep and I had volunteered to be her pillow. So she was now curled up against my side, head against my chest, and Embry was in the driver's seat.
I kept noticing him twitching and constantly checking the rear-view mirror. When he suddenly swerved into the emergency lane, only to pull out his cell-phone, I nearly lost my temper with him. The only thing keeping me from yelling was the brunette in my arms. I only got more annoyed when I heard his conversation. He had pulled us over to call Paul?
This was ridiculous.
By the time we got to La Push, I was ready to phase and hamstring Embry. It was lucky that we stopped to let Jared and Kim off at her place. As we pulled up in front of Rachel's, I was already trying to figure out how to move out from under Kaia, get to Embry, kill him, and then get back to Kaia to get her inside the house. This would not have normally been a problem, but I would have really liked to do it without waking her up.

This decision was taken out of my hands by my imprint suddenly jerking awake, and looking around confusedly. I frowned a little. It would be hard to kill Embry if she knew what I was upto. Oh well. Distracted as I was, I only then noticed Embry and Paul standing to the side, conversing in low, urgent tones. Low to the others, that is, not to the rest of us pack members. Why did he and Paul think someone was following us? Who would follow us? And why? I mean, the only danger we could think of, that we wouldn't have smelled, was… Oh God… Jason had been killed. What if… what if they had someone staking out the funeral… what if they knew Kaia was here? My brain went into overdrive then.
I noticed Jake melt out of the shadows at the end of the driveway and join Paul and Embry.
I sensed rather than saw Collin and Brady flank me, pushing Kaia in between, so we almost surrounded her. Before she could protest, we noticed that Embry, Ryan and Paul had surrounded Rachel in the same way. Kaia was confused now, I could feel it. Jake was the quintessential Alpha. The air of authority that enveloped him was absolute right now. He stood closer to the porch, looking around with alert, suspicious eyes. It was moments like these that made you realize he had really been meant for the role of 'Leader of the Pack'. Pun intended.

Thoroughly confused now, Rachel twisted in Paul's grip to look at Kaia, but then froze, staring at the driveway.
It was funny really. We had all been so concentrated on looking around for danger, we hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary staring us right in the face. I guess all of us had gotten used to being able to smell our kind of danger… our kind of enemies. Humans tended to slip under the radar. We noticed them, just not as our primary threat. If they ever posed one, we were able to handle it, even outnumbered. Watching Rachel's stricken expression, Kaia turned to look in the same direction.
Her reaction was instantaneous. She went rigid, gasping in quick short breaths.
Rachel did the exact opposite. I saw her almost collapse in Paul's arms, before taking a stumbling half-step forward.

That was when I caught the scent. Clean, slightly spicy, very masculine. Human then. But a threat? In the same moment that my nose was processing the new development, my eyes were going over what had Kaia and Rachel in such a gripping thrall.
There was a deep blue Chevy Camaro parked in front of Billy's place. Might have been a 67, the voice in the back of my head said. I tried to tell it to shut up without feeling ridiculous. Our imprints might be in danger and my brain was wondering about the make of the car in front of us?
Just then another part of my brain kicked in.
Chevy Camaro?
Deep Blue?
Restored Classic?
Alarm bells were going off in my head. I knew this car. Not knew it exactly… but heard a LOT about it. Michelle and Kaia had talked about it non-stop when they heard Ryan was a fan of muscle cars. I remembered being very surprised at how much Michelle knew about cars. But the most important part of the car conversation was filtering through right now.
As the knowledge of whose car it was made its way to the surface, the scent of the stranger suddenly got stronger. 'This is Jason's car,' my mind was screaming, as the scent hit me again. It was a human scent, but I knew it was a man. I couldn't think straight anymore, Kaia was shaking now, and Rachel seemed to have lost all command of her legs, leaning against Paul like he was the only thing keeping her from blowing away.

When it looked like Jake was about to lose it and phase, to protect his pack, imprints and family, a deep voice spoke from the darkness of the porch.

"Hey Munchkin… Long time no see…"

Time stopped.

A/N: Well?