AN – I do not own the characters in Twilight. They belong to Stephanie Meyers.

Chapter 8

QPOV

As I'm getting ready for my date with Tia, my mind plays back everything that has happened today, the emotions tied up in it all. I started this day nervous and anxious. By lunch, I had experienced rage and extreme fear, only to have it followed up by relief and longing. Talk about an emotional roller coaster ride in less than 12 hours. Trying to shake off my nerves, I walk out onto the back deck of the house. Leaning on the railing, I stare out into the forest thinking that a quick run would help me but I don't have the time.

I hear Grandfather walk up beside me. Over the past couple of years, I have noticed that his gate has slowed. He's no longer as strong as he once was. I can see the weariness in his eyes. He has been the anchor in my life since my dad died. He's been more than my grandfather. He is my friend. He leans out onto the rail watching the forest as I am. He is not a man of many words but I have learned to listen when he decides to speak. I wait for him to say what he feels is needed.

"Imprinting is never easy but in Tia's case, it is harder than most. I can see that much in your eyes. Even still, you need to understand that you can be what she needs. Believe in yourself and your abilities. You will know when it is time to truly be together with her." He lays his arm across my shoulder. His love for me is a constant and I know the truth of his words.

I turn and smile at him. I head back into the house to finish getting ready and make sure that grandfather has everything that he needs for the night before I leave for my date with Tia. Once everything is finished, I get in the truck to go to Sam's place.

TPOV

I hear a knock at the door as I brush my hair one last time. My nerves jumped at the sound. I hear Uma invite Quil into the house. Ok, I can do this. It's just a date. I smooth down the front of my shirt, give one quick glance in the mirror and then, go out into the living room.

There he stands in a blue polo shirt and jeans with a flower in his hand for me. One look at me and his jaw drops. Guess I clean up well… I smile as I take the offered flower. Sam asks him a couple of questions about our plans for the night as Uma pulls me into the kitchen to find a vase for it. She leans towards me as I fill the vase with water at the sink.

"Now, I know that I don't need to say this but you make sure that he treats you like a lady." I blush fiercely but I look up into her face. She's giving me the "Don't you hurt my girl." face that every mother wears whenever her daughter goes out on a date.

"No worries Grandmother, I know that he will." I whisper to her as I leave the kitchen to place my flower and its vase on the table.

"Well, we need to get going if we are going to make the 7 o'clock show. We'll be back by 10:30, promise." He says as we are about to go out the door. He helps me into the car and then starts the engine. A strained silence takes over. What do we say? What do we talk about?

He reaches over to the radio to pop a CD in. The soothing sounds of electric cello fill the truck. I feel my shoulders relax and I smile. "Apocalyptica, one of my favorites." The ice is broken. We listen to the music as we drive into Forks and talk about which movie we would see. We decided on a comedy. Quil swings the truck into a parking space in front of a café just off of the main square. As I enter, I see that the tables are candlelit and cozy. We have a seat and the waitress takes our order.

"So, tell me about Vegas. What was it like?"

I play with the straw in my drink trying to decide how to answer him. "Well, it was huge, crowded and noisy but other than that, I'm not really sure." There, not a lie but not the entire truth of it all.

"How so?" he asks.

"Mom and I had only lived there for a couple of months." For a moment, I stare at the candle on our table watching its flames flicker carefully picking words for my response. The flame's dance calms me and I look up at him. "I've moved around a lot, actually more than a lot. We never seemed to stay in one place for very long so it was just another town to me."

"If you had just moved there, why did you come to the Res?"

Oh boy, here we go…how much can I tell him? I've never talked to anyone about this before. Ever. "Well, sometimes my mom gets really depressed and she…becomes hard to live with. Something would always happen that sent her into a downward spiral. She felt that I needed to be living in a better environment which is why I moved in with Uma." I look down into my drink hoping not to have to give any more of an answer than that.

QPOV

She's hedging. There's more to her story. I can feel her nervousness but now is not the time. I saw sadness creep into her eyes again as she talked about her mother and the move. Our food arrives at a good breaking point in our conversation so I change the subject.

"What do you know about your Quileute heritage Tia? I know that you left when you really young but did you get the chance growing up to learn about us?" I ask as I dig into my fries and sandwich.

She shakes her head. "I don't know much at all really. I rarely visited Uma and mom never talked about her life here." Picking at her salad, I can see that she's still hesitant.

"How about I tell you about the origin of our tribe?" Telling her a story might bring her smile back. "Did you know that our people are supposedly descended from wolves?"

I see curiosity light up her eyes as I explain the story of our spirit warriors and the importance of the wolf to our people. I decided to leave the story of Taha Aki for another day. She sat listening intently much like I did when I first heard the legends of our Tribe.

"I think you need to go to the next bonfire. If the elders attend, they usually tell the legends. There's nothing like listening to their stories by an open fire surrounded by our tribe."

"I think I would like that very much." I can see that there's a small smile in her eyes.

"Well, we need to run if we are going to make the movie. Did you get enough to eat?" I say as I start to pay our bill. We walk to the theater in a comfortable silence.

TPOV

We walk from the café to the movie theater with plenty enough time to get our ticket and a tub of buttery popcorn. We find our seats as the final previews cross the screen. The lights dim and the movie begins. For a first date, the one that we had chosen was perfect, light hearted and funny with no uncomfortable, overly romantic scenes.

About halfway through the movie, I start getting chilly. I shiver and Quil notices. He puts his arm around me bringing me just a bit closer. I notice for the first time that he is like his own furnace. Within moments, I had warmed back up but I didn't want to pull away from him. His arm felt perfect right where it was. I sigh and feel his arm tighten around me.

QPOV

As the movie ended, we walked out of the theater. I stopped just outside the doors to search the parking lot, looking for any vamp sign. I kept my arm safely across Tia's shoulders as we walked towards the truck. I had really enjoyed the movie but it had nothing to do with what was happening on the screen. Sitting so close to Tia was a wonderful sensation. I could have stayed in my seat with my arm around her for the rest of the night but that couldn't happen.

The wind had picked up outside so we got into the truck quickly. "Are you still cold?" I ask her when I see her shiver again.

"Sort of, I don't think I'll ever get used to the weather here."

"You're welcome to sit closer to me if you want."

I see her look down considering what I had said. I don't understand her sometimes. I see pain in her eyes at one moment and a smile the next. She shyly slides closer to me. Smiling, I turn the music on and pull out into traffic.

"T, you had said earlier that you've never stayed in any one place for very long. How long do you think you'll be here?" I didn't want to hear this answer but I needed to know.

TPOV

"Mom hasn't said anything. I…" How do I answer this? "I guess I need to talk to her about it." I start playing with the straps on my purse to help hide my discomfort. I hadn't given a thought to staying with Uma any longer than a couple of months or so. Surely, mom wanted me back home with her but did I want to go back to Vegas? Could I leave Uma and the comfort that I had found on the Reservation?

QPOV

The thought of Tia leaving to go back to her mom sent my brain into a panic. I decided then and there that I needed to do everything that I could to make her want to stay. We got back to the reservation just before 10 o'clock. We were about to pass La Push when an idea came to me. I pulled the truck into a well lit spot in the visitors parking lot that looked out over the waves. As soon as I cut the engine off, I felt her shoulders tense and she pulled away from me just a bit.

BPOV

The warnings started sounding in my head the second he took the keys out of the ignition. I had enjoyed this evening too much for something to ruin it. I might be over reacting so I will myself not to automatically push myself to the opposite side of the truck away from him, even though my first instinct was to do just that. Unconsciously, I start fidgeting with strap on my purse again.

QPOV

"T, are you scared of me? We've spent quite a bit of time together these past two weeks. I don't understand why you're still so nervous." I stare out at the waves hoping that the soothing sounds of the ocean would calm her.

She doesn't look up. She spent a minute twisting her purse strap, obviously trying to figure out what to say. I see a blush creep up her cheeks. "Quil, I…" she falters "I've never been on a date before and I've never had a boyfriend. I just know how to do this." She finishes in a whisper.

Turning towards her, I place my hand under her chin making her look at me. I see her uncertainty. I can feel her heart beating so fast. She's terrified. It shakes me to my core. "Sometimes when I look in your eyes, I see a sadness that is so strong that it breaks my heart. I don't know who or what put it there, but I want to make it go away. Would you consider being my girlfriend? I won't let anything hurt you ever again." I say quietly.

TPOV

My interest in Quil has grown over the past couple of days but I don't know how to act or what to say now. The feeling of uncertainty overwhelms me. Am I ready for this? I explain that I don't know how this works because I had never had a boyfriend before. All of these emotions were so new. My pulse was racing and my breathing had sped up.

I look up at him as he turns my face towards his. I can see his concern for me for a split second before he says gently "Sometimes when I look in your eyes, I see a sadness that is so strong that it breaks my heart. I don't know who or what put it there, but I want to make it go away. Would you consider being my girlfriend? I won't let anything hurt you ever again."

I never thought I would hear these words from him, let alone see such sincerity in his eyes. I don't know how to answer him. I want very much to be his girlfriend but my fears push back at my new feelings. What if he's really like Jim? What if you aren't good enough for him? What if you have to move back to Vegas? I have so many questions running through my head. I can no longer look into his eyes so I close mine and force myself to breathe.

QPOV

She closes her eyes but not before I see that she can't handle much more of this conversation. "I understand if you want to think about this T. I'm going to wait for you to tell me what you decide." I smile at her to let her know that I'm not upset.

I start the truck back up to drive her home. I open the passenger's door to help her out and escort her to the door. I take her hand when we reach the door. I bring it gently to my lips. "Promise me that you'll think about us."

"I will." She looks up at my shyly and then she turns to go into the house.

The drive to my place was quick. I step in the house to check on Grandfather, finding him sound asleep in his bed. I quietly change into a pair of running shorts and head out the back door towards the woods. I needed to run. I phase in as soon as I clear the back deck.

I must have not done a very good job at keeping my thoughts to myself as I rounded the first bend of the river because my pack brothers chimed in.

How was your date lover boy?

Shut up Paul.

I hear Paul and Embry chuckle at my discomfort so I let them see Tia's face as she looked at me terrified while at La Push. They didn't say another word about it. They understand. I ran at full speed for an hour before I felt exhausted, physically and mentally, enough to find sleep.

TPOV

I floated back to my room after I closed the door. I change into my pjs and find my IPod. Pink's "Try" was playing in my head.

Ever worried that it might be ruined
And does it make you wanna cry?
When you're out there doing what you're doing
Are you just getting by?
Tell me are you just getting by by by

Where there is desire
There is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame
Someone's bound to get burned
But just because it burns
Doesn't mean you're gonna die
You've gotta get up and try try try

Maybe it's time that I did. I've never felt such a strong need to do so in my life. My life before here was unhappy and full of fear but since my arrival on the Res, I had felt a new sense of love, compassion, and belonging. All I have to do is try and more of these feelings could be mine. Just try…

The next morning dawns and I feel like I'm starting a new chapter just as my mom had mentioned. After getting dressed and eating some breakfast, Uma and I spend our morning hours working in her flowers, bedding them down for the fall. Spreading wood chips and pulling weeds on a crisp autumn morning did wonders for my busy mind. Just after lunch, I called mom to tell her about my date.

"Well, how'd it go?" she asked. Her excitement for me was evident in her voice.

"Wonderful." I explained to her our evening and what we did.

"So are you two going to become more serious? Quil sounds like a great guy."

"Maybe…" I hesitate. "Mom, how long am I going to be living with Uma?"

Through her cell phone, I hear the front door to our apartment slam. Jim had just walked in with his friends. "T, I'm thinking that being with Uma is the best for you right now. Things here…" she quickly replies in a quieter voice.

A drunk voice interrupts her "Are you talking to that slut of a daughter again? Get off the damn phone woman." And the line goes dead. Mom didn't even say good bye.

A bit shaken, I grab my sketch pad deciding to head out to the lake out back to work out my nerves and find an answer to Quil's question. I didn't want to leave it unanswered for too long. Sitting down at the picnic table, I start drawing the first thing that comes to my mind. My charcoal flies over the page. Soon I realize that I've drawn the silhouette of the man that I keep seeing in my dreams.

I hear a snap in the woods behind me and I turn to see Sam walking up. He takes a seat beside me at the table.

"Hey T, I saw you over here as I was headed up the hill to check on Uma. How did your date go last night?" he asked.

"It was fun. I really like Quil."

"Good, I'm glad to see you having fun and enjoying your life. I get the feeling that you didn't get to do it much before you came here." He reaches for my sketch pad. "Can I see your work?" I slide my pad across to him and watch him flip through. He stopped on my latest piece of the silhouette. A troubled look crosses his face.

"You know, I never had any brothers or sisters of my own, T but I have started thinking of you as one. You've earned a special spot in my heart next to Emily and Uma." He smiles and hugs me. He continues after a moment "I think that if you decide to become more serious with Quil, I'll be by your side if he ever steps out of line." Then he adds. "A bunch of us are getting together to have a cook out over at La Push this evening. Would you like to go? Emily and Bella will be there to help keep you company."

"I would love to go."

"Great! I'll give you a call before we are ready to leave so that you can walk down to our place. Emily and I will take care of the food. All you have to do is pack a beach bag." He says as he stands to walk up to Uma's.

Watching him as he walks in the back door, I decide it is time for me to try.