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

Chapter 11

QPOV

After allowing myself to bask in our newfound happiness for a few moments, I walk hand in hand with Tia to the truck. Once we're in the truck, she changes the cd to Muse. It fit our mood perfectly at that moment.

"T, I need to talk to Sam after I drop you off. Is it ok if I come back by after dinner?"My thumb is drawing designs on the back of her hand as I wait for her answer.

"That's fine. I'd like to draw the images that I have in my mind from the waterfall. I might have it sketched up by the time you get there." She smiled.

We listen to the music on the way back, enjoying just being with each other. I drop her off at Uma's giving her a kiss on the cheek. After I see her shut the door behind her, I go down the hill to Sam's house.

I walk in to see that Sam and Jared are in the living room watching tv and Emily is fixing dinner. My stomach grumbled at the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. No more than 2 seconds later, Jared threw a muffin at my head. I caught it with ease and I finally let out a laugh. From the laugh, my grin turned into a beaming smile. I sat down on the couch chewing my on my snack.

"Is she ok?" asks Jared.

I told them about the strange text message and her mom's slime ball boyfriend. "I wanted to phase so bad when she told me what he tried to do her that night. I wanted to haul ass right then to Vegas to shred that bastard myself, but I knew that I couldn't."

Sam and Jared watch me closely. I could see the pride in their eyes for having such fierce devotion to my Imprint. Most newborn werewolves could not have handled that sort of situation as well as I did.

"Then, I took her to the waterfall by Carson's Ridge" I took a deep breath before continuing. "…and I phased for her so that I could start telling her the truth."

Sam flew up off of the couch lunging at me. "You did WHAT? What the hell were you thinking? Do you know what could have happened?"He glares at me and then he turns toward Emily, his eyes filled with anguish. "Damn it Quil!" Sam trembles in anger.

Jared tries to diffuse the situation "…but she took your phasing well, didn't she? I mean, you had a smug grin on your face when you came in a moment ago."

I nodded my head "She took it very well and even asked if she had met any of the other shifters. I told her that she had when we were at La Push the other night."

"…and?" Jared waits for me to continue but I held up my hands palm up.

"And that's where we are. She knows that we are werewolves."

"You didn't mention the imprint at all?" Jared looks puzzled.

"I decided not to tell her just yet Jare. I want her to be comfortable with me before I do."

Sam managed to calm down. "Ok Quil, as much as I really want to kick your ass for pulling a stunt like that, I have to admit that you did the right thing in not pushing with the Imprint." His anger is gone. "However, no more phasing in her presence until you have my permission Quil." The voice of the Alpha had spoken.

Sam goes on to talk about his meeting with the Council. "They want to some to read through the legends about Fire Dreamers before we talk to her. We'll probably have our meeting with her next week."

The news is now playing on the tv in front of us. The reporter is telling us of even more killings in Seattle. We are all anxious hoping that whatever that menace is doesn't start heading towards us. Sam stands up getting ready to on patrol after he eats dinner. "Quil, you and Jared have the next shift. Go get some rest."

I leave Sam's to have dinner with Grandfather. I explain to him what had happened at the waterfall. I didn't feel like it was my place to talk about what happened at Tia's place in Vegas before she moved here. He nods his head as I tell him about phasing for her.

"Well done grandson, she deserves the truth especially now that she will soon be taking on her own role in the Tribe. She will need you to be with her when we tell her."

I help clean up after dinner and then head over to see Tia. I knock on the door. I can see Uma rise from her chair. She opens the door for me saying "She's in her room. Go on back."

I walk across the living room. Nearing her room, I can hear her music playing. As I push her door open, I see that she has fallen asleep. She is lying face down on her mattress and she's surrounded by her sketches. There are several that she must have decided to trash. She had drawn several different views of the falls. I take a moment to watch her sleep. She looks so peaceful. I gently touch her cheek with the back of my hand, not really wanting to wake her but I needed to know how she was handling things.

Her eyelashes fluttered as she woke. A smile plays across her face. Pulling herself to sitting, she flips her hair back out of her face. I sit down beside her.

"Hey" she scoots closer to me, placing her cheek on my shoulder.

"What have you been up to? Can I see your drawings?"

She handed me the pad; I turn the pages seeing just how talented Tia is. There were several sketches of people obviously unaware that they were being drawn. They looked too distracted to have taken notice. I stopped on the red headed woman sketch. "Is this the woman from your dream T?"

"It is. Her hair is vivid red and her eyes frighten me." She whispers in reply.

I flip to the soul eating eyes piece. A look of recognition crosses my face. Then, I flip over two more pages to see her latest piece. "It took me several tries to get the perspective the way I wanted but the end result turned out awesome." She explained. It was our waterfall but on the boulder at the top of the falls was a wolf standing guard.

"That's me." I touched the drawing with reverence. "You drew me guarding the falls."

"The falls are a special place to you Quil. I had to draw your wolf there." I shyly smiled up at him. "I drew this for you."

"Really?" I set the pad down to turn towards her. "This means a lot to me, just like you do." I bring my hand up to her face.

TPOV

I can see the sincerity in his eyes. I lean forward and gently place my lips on his. Our first real kiss was brief and soft. He caressed my cheek. I felt like the most special person on the planet at that moment. When our kiss ended, he gave a contented sigh.

"I can't stay too long, T. I have some stuff that needs to get done before I hit my pillow. Will you be ok tonight?"

I think for a moment about everything that had happened. I rubbed his arm and nodded. "I will. It helps to know that I have my own wolf watching over me."

Quil's face lit up as I called him my wolf. We listened to a couple of more songs before he had to leave. I walked him to the door. I gave him a quick kiss goodbye before he walked to his truck.

QPOV

(phases in to start patrol)

It's about time you got your butt out here.

I hear Jared's voice in my head. I'm running the borders as we had been ordered allowing the act of running itself to take some of my tension away from me. My mind wanders off to think about our discussion at the falls.

You know, it would be a lot easier on you if you'd just tell Tia about your imprint.

I huffed rather than reply to him. I couldn't explain to him exactly why I was holding out on telling her. My anger was still too fresh whenever I thought of what almost happened to her.

What the hell? That bastard tried to rape her?

Shit. I stop running. It's my fault that he knows. I couldn't keep that memory out of my head. I howl in anger and frustration. Jare's howl joins mine.

Jared, Quil, what's going on? Sam must have phased in when he heard our angry cries. It took a split second of our shared memory for him to understand why. Oh god…I need to go talk to Emily. His voice is gone.

We run full speed for a couple of miles just to work out our emotions. When we finally stop close to the top of a mountain that overlooked the Res, Jared stopped to look at me.

I think you two need some normal time. Ever since she moved to Uma's, she's been on an emotional roller coaster. Kim and I are going over to Bella's for a movie night with her and Jake. Why not join us?

Let me talk to T, but I'm sure that she would love to.

After a couple of more hours patrolling, we start heading home. I swing by Uma's just to check on Tia. I watch her for a moment through her window. She looked peaceful, no dreams. I felt a pull on my heart for the pain that she went through before she came to us.

SPOV

After I phase back, I find Emily in the bathroom getting ready for bed. I walk up behind her and put my arms around her, pulling her close to my chest. I close my eyes and bury my nose in her hair. "Men are bastards sometimes Emily. I know that I've been one myself but it was never intentional. I never meant to hurt anyone." She turns to face me with a concerned look on her face. I tell her about the truth of Tia's haunted, sad look. Her eyes grow large as she realizes how she had been mistreated. I tighten my arms around her. "We're going to make sure that she will always be safe with us." She nods in agreement and puts her head on my chest wanting me to just hold her.

Third Person POV

The remainder of the week flew by. The movie date was set for Friday night. Each pair was bringing different types of snacks and the girls were given the task of choosing a movie as long as it wasn't too mushy.

Jacob had arrived first as Bella was finishing up making a huge batch of dip and her double chocolate brownies. Next came Jared and Kim who brought a sandwich tray and chips.

At 6 pm, Charlie managed to scoot out the door before the house was overrun with teenagers. Besides, he didn't want to interfere. He approved of Bella being with Jake and as far as he could tell from his friends on the Res, everyone liked the other two couples as well. He smiled thinking back to his teen years remembering what it was like to be curled up on the couch with your girl, doing nothing more than just being.

"You kids have fun. No wild antics while I'm gone. I don't want to hear any of my officers being called out to respond to something happening at my house." He glared over at Jake knowing that he was just being an overprotective dad. Nothing was going to happen.

TPOV

Why am I nervous? I've spent time around them before. I wish I wasn't so tense. I sigh out loud. Quil had picked me up about 15 minutes ago to drive over to Bella's. We listened to music holding hands while we made our way to Forks. I sigh trying to make myself at ease.

"What's with the sigh T?" he smiled over at me. He seems so at ease.

"I don't' know. I've never been much for the social scene." I glanced up at him

"You're going to have a blast. We used to do this sort of thing all of the time with just us boys before we all started imprint...I mean dating. The only difference between now and then is the choice of the movies." He laughed trying cover up his slip of the tongue.

I look up at Bella's house as we pull in to her driveway. It looked alive with energy, the tv blaring and laughter coming from the four already inside. Quil helps me carry our share of the snacks, Uma's muffins, fruit salad and sausage balls.

QPOV

Crap! What is it with me lately? I can't keep my mind off of her. My wolf wants to claim her. I scuff the ground trying not let my frustrations get the best of me as I come around the truck to help Tia out and carry food.

We walk into the house to see Jake kicked back in the recliner with Bella on his lap and Jared with Kim on an oversized bean bag on the floor in front of the tv. They were watching Myth Busters, laughing at the antics of Jaime and Adam. Bella's head popped up the second she heard us come up to the door.

Jake and Bella helped us get the food set up in the kitchen. The plates were set out and everyone dug in. Tia and I made ourselves comfortable on the couch. She was curled up beside me, munching on some chips.

Jared was on his fourth or fifth brownie when Kim slapped his hand. "Hey, that was on my plate!" She swatted him in the head but he still managed to eat the last bite with a grin.

I snorted at him. Jare picked up an empty cup and threw it at my head. I ducked but it bounced off of the couch to hit Tia instead.

"Hey!" She looked upset but I could see the glint in her eyes. I reached over to kiss her "injury" when she decided to play dirty. She grabbed the nearest pillow and whopped me in the head. We were all laughing when we heard Bella putting the empty brownie plate in the sink.

"Kim, Tia, why don't I show you the rest of the house really quick before the movie starts?" She starts up the stairs and our girls follow her. Since they were going to be gone for a couple of minutes, we guys decided to make a third pass at the food in the kitchen.

BPOV

I made a show of pointing out the various rooms upstairs before we stopped in my room. I ushered them inside and quietly shut the door behind us. I walked over to my closet to pull out my hidden pan of brownies. I knew too well how long those downstairs were not going to last. I hid this batch away so that we could have a girls' moment.

We all sat down on my bed with the brownies between us. Each of us was nibbling on our chocolate when Tia asked a question out of the blue.

"What does imprint mean?"

Kim and I look at each other not knowing how to reply. It's not our place to talk to her about her true relationship with Quil but it seems only fair that she knows what the word means since we were imprints too.

"It is the term that the pack uses to say that a wolf has found his soul mate." I say matter of fact. Kim gives me a small smile as reassurance that I had said the right thing.

"So, Sam imprinted on Emily?"

We both nodded, not wanting her to take the questioning any further.

"How are you and Quil getting on? He looks so happy whenever he's with you Tia." Kim asks trying to distract her. We each snagged one more brownie.

"He's a really sweet guy." She blushed. "I am happy with him too."

"Well, we've been gone for a whole 5 minutes from our boys. If we stay up here too much longer, they will come hunting for us and our secret brownie stash will be history." I winked as we all got up. Walking down the stairs, we watch our boys all look up at us with love obvious in their eyes. I hope that Quil comes clean with Tia soon. They deserve to be happy each other.

Third Person POV

They all settle down to start the movie. Kim had chosen some spy comedy that involved lots of silliness and great one liners. At about halfway through the movie, Tia got up to make a bathroom run. She couldn't help but notice that Bella was sound asleep on Jake's shoulder and Jared was playing with Kim's hair as they both laughed at the movie. She starts up the stairs to see Quil watching her. There's a look in his eyes that escapes her. She can see that he's holding something back but she doesn't know what or why.

QPOV

After spending an hour with Tia curled up by my side, I didn't like the feeling of emptiness when she stood to go the bathroom. I wanted her with me but I knew that I was being a bit unreasonable. I heard the bathroom door shut.

Kim looks up at me and whispers. "Quil, you need to talk to her. She asked us what imprinting was when we were upstairs earlier."

I drop my head back on the couch and close my eyes. It seemed as if things were moving too fast. I didn't want to push Tia. "Do you think she is ready for this Kim?"

"Well honestly, if she's asking questions, then I think it's safe to say that she's at least curious. If you explain that you have no desire to speed up your relationship, I think she can handle it."

I rub my hands over my eyes wishing that this could be easier, but then again, getting things out in the open would do just that. I guess I'm just scared.

"Ok, I will." I sat back up to see Kim give me a reassuring smile.

A few minutes later, Tia came down the steps again. I stood up as she neared the bottom. "Come take a walk with me Tia." I hold out my hand and she takes it. We exit through the back door.

Once outside on the back porch, I turn to face her. She looks up at me and her skin shines in the moonlight. I lean against the porch railing. Pulling her closer, I lay a gentle kiss on her lips.

"I was thinking that we needed a moment of "us" time. I love our friends but I've wanted a minute with you since we started the movie."

Tia puts her hands on my chest as I put my hands on her waist. I sigh and look into her eyes again.

"Is something wrong Quil?" she asks uncertain.

"No nothing is wrong. Everything is almost as right as it can get."

"Almost?"

"Tia, when we were at the falls the other day, I said that I wanted to be your protector, remember?"

She nods. I get up the courage to continue.

"There's more to it actually. I want to be whatever you want. I'll be your best friend, boyfriend, protector, lover, whatever as long as I can be with you. I don't like being separated from you at all. It hurts me whenever I am not." I close my eyes before taking the last step. "I've fallen in love with you Tia."

Her brow furrows trying to take everything in. "Why Quil? Why me? There are dozens of beautiful girls at our school and you choose me. I don't get it."

I reach up to put my hands on either side of her face. "Tia, you are beautiful to me. You are in my heart in a way that no other girl will ever be. I've imprinted on you."

"You what?"

"I've imprinted on you. It's a wolf thing. When we find our perfect mate, we imprint. There will never be anyone else for me but you, that is if you will have me." I look into her eyes and I see the beginnings of tears. My wolf whimpers. This has got to work.

TPOV

Tears well up in my eyes. He's serious, isn't he? Do I want this? How could I not want this?

I close my eyes as the tears roll down my cheeks. I take a deep breath, two and then three, trying to gather myself together.

"Tia?" he asked.

I open my eyes to stare into his. "You're mine? All mine." He nods his reply watching me closely. "All yours forever." His face is only inches away from mine. I lean forward and whisper. "I love you too Quil." Smiling, I kiss him. Our lips meet with newfound passion. He reaches up to put his hand in my hair and the other slips around my waist pulling me closer. Our kissing lasted for a couple of minutes until…

"Ow ow oooow!" Quiet giggles are coming from the kitchen door. We broke apart to see that our four friends had been listening to our conversation. Jared's grin was ear to ear. Kim smiled happy for us. Jake pulled Bella closer to him and kissed her on the cheek.

"Welcome to the pack Tia!" Bella said beaming.

I shyly hid my embarrassment in the crook of Quil's neck as he pulled me closer. His chin rested on my shoulder watching our friends and laughing in his happiness. He gave me another big squeeze and I squealed. I had never felt so happy in my entire life.