A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait, again. Had internet trouble and got sick and blah blah blah. Important thing is I finally got it up! (: This chapter feels a bit like just a filler, but we shall see. Happy reading!

Love and thanks to SasoLOVE111, brightglo, JellyBeane, DreamingInATeacup, kiki, Happy2BeeMe, TempusSimia, 'Lil Obsessed and RANDOM COOKIE NINJA for your gorgeous reviews (: Thanks so much guys

. : Chapter 15: The Hangover : .

Urgh.

Hangover.

I blinked wearily at the ceiling and cursed the damned marching band and their bloody drums that were stomping around in my head, trying to crack open my skull. What did I tell myself yesterday? Don't get smashed? And what did I do? God, I don't even listen to me now. This must be a record or something.

Then it came rushing back to me and I buried my head into my pillow and groaned. Wayne and his information- I hate that guy. Adam was back in the country, which I already knew, but rumour had it that he was not only avoiding my country, his country, and Austria, but now he'd also managed to piss of the Russians. I don't think I even wanted to know how he'd managed that.

So, why he'd come back here was a little confusing. Unless, which Wayne had unhelpfully suggested, he'd come for my help.

Me, help him? I don't think so.

The last thing I needed now was a reunion with him. Weren't there enough things for me to deal with at the moment without him causing me more grief? Like, for instance, my new stalker? I knew he'd touched me last night. I didn't really remember much of what I did after my tenth round of vodka shots at the club. But I knew that Black had come in contact with me at some stage. My skin was tingling and felt warm where his hands would have been.

'Please for the love of all things good and holy in the world, don't let me have slept with him, or kissed him or anything that would encourage him!' I begged mentally, then winced as the thoughts caused my head to throb even worse.

Urgh, no more thinking.

I realised then that I was alone, sprawled out on my bed, fully dressed. At least that puts the sex problem out the window, thank god. But where were my godson and my dog? I heaved myself up and wobbled slightly before leaning against the wall. Looking down at myself, I decided that a shower and change of clothes were definitely in order.

After deeming myself presentable and not smelling like a walking bar, I went downstairs. I had to roll the sleeves of my sweatshirt up so they weren't covering my hands. It was one I'd stolen from Jay after all. I winced and put a hand to my skull as the noise downstairs hit me full force. Had they always been this loud?

"Aunty Evie!" Ben squealed happily as soon as he saw me.

I 'oofed' as he flung himself against my legs and I wobbled a bit but righted myself in time. "Hey, BB, how are you?" My voice sounded hoarse, like I hadn't had a drink of water in a week or so. I picked him up and hugged him.

"Good! Guess what? Jared taught me how to make a sling shot!" Note to self: Kill Jared. "And later Jake says we can go to the beach!" He exclaimed, curling his little arms around my neck. Oh, grrreat.

"That's great, baby. Let Aunty Evie have a caffeine hit before you run this by me again, okay?" I kissed his forehead lovingly and smiling thankfully at Emily as she handed me a cup of steaming coffee goodness. "Thanks, Emily."

"How's the head?" Leah asked me, with a knowing smile. She knew it was killing me.

"I'm gonna die." I groaned.

Ben tensed in my arms. "What?" He whispered thickly. "You can't! You can't die! Don't go away, Aunty Evie, I-who-who will…"

"Woah, woah, calm down, Benny!" I back peddled quickly. "I'm not going anywhere, okay? Its okay, shh, I'm sorry. I was being silly. I won't leave you." I rocked him back and forth calmingly, mentally smacking myself for upsetting him. He'd had too many adult figures pass without me being stupid.

"So, I hear you've got tats, Eves…" I whipped around to stare at Paul, open mouthed. How had he…oh shit, he was grinning cockily. Triple oh shit.

"What exactly did I do last night?" I asked cautiously, putting Ben down and shooing him off to go play with Claire, who was in the lounge room. Things might get ugly.

"Nothing…" Leah assured me. "You were just, well, drunk."

"You don't remember anything?" Sam asked sceptically. Oh dear, that didn't sound reassuring at all.

"No…what'd I say?" I demanded.

Leah stifled a laugh. "Apparently, you think Jacob looks like a glow worm."

I blinked and looked at Black, tilting my head to the side while he blushed and everyone else laughed. "No, I think that was drink talk. His shape is all wrong for a worm."

"That's not what you said." He insisted. "You said I glowed…like a glow worm."

"Man, I must've been really out of it." I muttered, dropping my face in my hands. I thought that Jacob Black glowed? What. The. Hell?

"You were." Tasha added, unhelpfully might I add. "You were giggling and kicking benches and falling into handsome guy's arms…"

I groaned. "Johnny Depp was here? And I don't remember falling into his arms? Damn, I'm never drinking again."

The laughter that followed was not welcomed and I clutched my head and hissed at them to shut up. Then my phone rang, and the noise got worse.

I answered it a little snappily. "What?" Okay, so little might have been an understatement…

"My gosh, Evie, did I wake you or something?" Came the pretty female voice on the other end. Claudia-Jane, or Claude or CJ, was another of the agents that I frequently worked with. Another of my sisters, I had quiet a few I realised. Maddy, Leah, Tasha, Tams, CJ, Tess, Yas… The last three were younger then me, so I didn't cop the mothering thing from them.

Thankfully, though I did mother them a little…Yas and Tess were still in training but they'd been on short missions with us before, its good experience and preparation. They only choose the ones that they know can handle our lifestyle to continue training.

"CJ, hey, I'm sorry. I'm supporting the mother of all hangovers so…"

"Aw, girl, you been partying again? You're not in some strangers flat with no idea where you are again, are you?" But, they did worry too much. "Do you want me to come get you?"

"No, unfortunately. I'm at my cousin's kitchen table trying to kill the band in my head via coffee drowning. How are you?" I would've chuckled, but that would've hurt.

She sighed in relief. "Oh thank god, Jay would chuck a right bitch fit if he heard about you doing that again. So, why are you hung over this time?"

I groaned and relaxed in the chair, completely ignoring my audience. I was past caring this morning. "Is no part of my life private from you people?"

"No."

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at the chuckling, smirking faces. "Do I really need an excuse to get hung over?"

"Come on, Evie. When do we ever just do anything without a reason? Your okay right, chicka?" She was smug; she knew she had a point.

"I'm fine, like I always am. No fuss, no worries, fine. F.I.N.E." I spelt it out, then paused and wondered if I'd spelled it right. I really didn't know where my head was at this morning.

She sighed. "Alright, if you say so, how's Ben? How's Washington?"

"Nrgh. Like Washington always is? I swear, whenever I'm in this godforsaken state its got terrible weather. BB is great though, he's playing with my cousin's fiancée's niece at the moment." I stretched to get a better look at the toddlers. "Barbies seems to be the current game."

CJ laughed. "Oh, Maddy will be thrilled. Imagine, Madison Livingston's son, playing barbies!"

It was quite comical, now that she mentioned it. Maddy would have a heart attack. "I won't be telling her…"

"You don't tell her half the things you and Ben get up to; she'd rip you to pieces."

"She'd have to catch me first." I retorted. "No one can catch me. I'm un-catchable and un-killable. I'm super, remember?"

"Yeah yeah, there's no point in telling you not to let your power go to your head, it's already up there." She teased. "Your head will get so big it'll drop right off your shoulders."

"Pah, nonsense…well, it won't be dropping off for that reason, but this headache might…"

"Then stop drinking so much!" CJ, Leah and Tasha said at the same time.

I scowled. "Is there an echo in here, huh? Smartarses, shut up. Haven't you ever heard of 'no pain, no gain?'"

They scoffed. "And what did you gain from this pain?" Tasha asked, raising one of her delicate eyebrows as she stared at me over her tea cup.

"Oh, is your sister there?" CJ asked. "Tell her I say hi, and that my Mum needs a florist for her wedding in a month."

I wrinkled my nose. "Is your mother getting married again? When did this charming event develop? Tashie, CJ says hi and that her mother needs a florist for another wedding in about a month. What is this, the forth time?"

"Sixth." CJ replied dryly as Tash waved, smiled, and nodded her consent. "I think the only man she didn't marry that she got involved with was Dad."

"Your mother is a cradle snatcher, you know that? Who's this one?" I mouthed a 'thanks' to Tasha. "Your not making me go, are you?"

"As always, Evie, thank you very much for your support and offering to come and save me from committing suicide before the reception." She said cheekily and a few of the guys laughed, but this stopped when I kicked Vinnie's shin under the table. "This one is better looking then the last one. I think his name is Peter…something or other. He's older then Maddy, twenty-nine, I think he is."

"Oh, well that's better then the last one. What's your Mum now, forty-five?"

"Forty-seven, so yeah, the age gap is getting smaller." CJ muttered. Her mother was kinda like mine, rich and flighty. But at least mine didn't have a divorce every six months and a wedding every twelve…or not that I knew of anyway. "When are you coming home? I'm dying here without you, Tams is off her rocker planning this party. Yas and Tess have their semester finals so their eyeball deep in papers. Jay is doing god-only-knows-what in Aus, Maddy and Dan are off working, and boss has everyone but me, or it seems like it, with their tongues hanging out working." She complained.

"Aw, poor baby," I cooed. "I'll be back on Thursday…what's today?"

"Tuesday,"

"Is it? Wow, anyway, I'll be back then with Ben and Jay in tow so we'll do something then yeah? And I'll be back at work after the party no doubt so we can go back to terrorising the boys and kicking their arses at 'male things'."

She chuckled. "Sounds good, you know we're doing fashion week right?"

"Urgh, yes, I know. I'm gonna make Jay come to, so we can whine about it together."

"No way, girl time, no boys aloud." She said firmly. "Your going whether you like it or not. Plus by then, you'll be helping me survive this wedding, so you'll thank me for dragging you away to Paris."

"Oh, goodie," I'm gonna die.

"Your not gonna die." She laughed. "You're such a drama queen."

"I am not! I'm not a drama queen, am I, Leah?" I didn't wait for my best friend to open her mouth. "No, didn't think so. And since when do you read minds? Creepy girl."

She laughed. "Doesn't take a genius to figure out what you think, babe."

Black perked up, his eyes lighting up with an idea. It was like watching a cartoon when the light bulb comes on over their heads. "Don't say that, now this idiot thinks he can ask you and he'll get all my secrets."

"What idiot?" She asked, confused. Black smiled at me.

"There are lots of idiots here, like, eleven complete fruit cakes. But this is the one that's been acting like a homeless puppy, it's annoying the shizz out of me."

"Naw, he probably likes you."

"I don't get why you people always do this 'naww' thing whenever a guy chases after me." I grumbled, raising my eyebrows as Black went all ridged and Sam started choking on his food.

"You're having this conversation right in the middle of your family, aren't you?" CJ tisked disapprovingly, probably shaking her head.

"I really don't care this morning." I replied matter-of-factly.

"Right, of course you don't. Well, we do the 'naww' thing because we think you deserve to be happy, and have someone who loves you." Urgh, she was being blunt.

I rolled my eyes and huffed. "I don't do the 'happily ever after' thing. It's not in my cards anymore. I've got people who love me, so I don't know what you're complaining about."

"Not someone who loves loves you. Of course we love you, but we love you like a sister. You should have someone who loves you as a lover."

"I have lots of lovers." I protested. Que Sam's choking again and this time Black joined him, nearly sucking up his spoon.

CJ sighed in annoyance. "Your being difficult, Eva, you know what I mean. Screwing guys isn't the same as having a lover."

"Why don't you go get one then?" I glared at anyone that looked at me. I should get up and take this conversation outside, but I was too lazy. "I really wish you guys would stop trying to match make me. I'm happy screwing guys…oh for god's sake you pair! Stop eating if your gonna choke every time I say it! Newsflash: I am not a virgin! My god, my head! Oww!"

"Stop giving your family nightmares. And stop being such a whinny bitch." CJ chastised. "One day you're going to have to realise the truth and move on. It is possible you know. What Adam did was…so wrong it flies off the scale. But you can't let it rule the rest of your life…"

I cringed when she said his name. "Don't go there, Claudia-Jane. Rule number one: We don't talk about him. I don't want to know, I don't want to try to fix what can't be fixed. It's over, done with, caput. You can't rewind time, can't undo what's already been done. I don't want a relationship again. I don't want to know their last names before I screw them. I don't want to see them more then once, I don't ever, ever, want to hear them say they love me. I won't allow it. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. I've accepted it, it's time everyone else does to."

She sighed. "Evie…"

"No, CJ, no more. If I get anymore blind dates or set ups, I will kill the poor barsted you're setting me up with. I don't want it. Why can't any of you understand that?" I glared at the rest of them. I didn't want it, I couldn't have it again. Just couldn't.

"Alright then, you win. I still think your wrong, though. But if that's the way you feel, then I'll send out a memo."

"Thank you."

"I should go try and get more of this paper work done. I'll see you're Thursday, okay? Love you, Eves." I'd upset her, great. The truth hurts though, everyone knew that.

"I love you to, CJ. See ya soon." I whispered and ended the call, chucking the phone onto the table out of my reach. "If that thing rings again, take it out and run over it." I declared to my deathly silent audience. "Oh, do get over it."

Sam cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Would you tell us what's wrong?"

"Hell no,"

"Just me?"

"As if,"

"Tasha?"

"If I told her I might as well tell everyone, no."

"Leah?"

"No." I won't have them hounding her for the things I've told her.

"Do you speak to anyone?" Embry asked softly. "I mean, doesn't keeping everything to yourself just…send you crazy?"

I shrugged. "It's my prerogative, Em. A little more crazy in me won't make much of a difference. Thanks, guys, for caring. But you really are just wasting your time on me." I have to admit it to myself, and I'll never repeat this to anyone else. It's a nice feeling, to know that people do care, that there are people who do love me and won't betray me. I was just learning to keep everyone at a distance, for their safety.

"I don't think you're a waste of time, Evie." Black whispered thickly. "I won't give up on you." Oh, goodie…

"Me either." Sam added. "You're my family, and I love you."

"Your part of us now," Emily said, smiling at me fondly. "You'll always have a home here."

Leah reached over and covered my hand with hers and smiled, agreeing, her eyes asking a question about what had me all depressive this time.

"Yeah, welcome to the nut house, Evie." Georgia said, giving me a smile. She was wrapped protectively in Vinnie's arms again. "Once you're in, there's no escaping. Trust me, I've tried." Vinnie scowled and kissed her cheek.

I shook my head in exasperation. Mutt chose this moment to leap up into my lap, turn around in three circles and plop down, curling himself into a ball. I chuckled at him, strange little dog. Sometimes I wondered if he thought he was a cat. "You really aren't going to leave me alone about any of this, are you?" I deadpanned.

They all grinned at me and shook their heads.

I sighed. "You also know that I won't give in, don't you?"

This time they shrugged. "You might get sick of it and give in eventually." Rach piped up. "We can be pretty persuasive."

"Well, I can only wish you luck, cause you'll need tones of it. And it still won't do you any good." I said. If I wouldn't talk after four days of torture in the middle of an Arab desert, then I think I could withstand whatever these guys had to throw at me for the next two days. Speaking of torture…I haven't really looked at me leg today.

I shuffled around in my chair and put my leg up onto Embry's lap. Mutt looked at me in annoyance as I disturbed him, but I ignored his look and tugged up my trackie pants leg to get a look at the wound.

"That must've hurt like hell." Em said as he looked at it.

It was healed almost halfway, there were white lines either side of the stitches where it had closed up. Another scar. Ty was working on something that got rid of scars though, so it might not be there for long. Around the stitches was pink but it wasn't inflamed like the first day and there wasn't any pain.

I nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't exactly pleasant, but I survived, obviously."

"Wasn't it a lot bigger then that before?" Paul asked, as he leaned around Em to get a look to.

I nodded. "I heal pretty quickly, plus the morphine I use is a new kind that accelerates the natural healing process, so that helps, too." I poked it curiously and came to the conclusion that I could take the stitches out now. "Pass me a knife, someone, please?"

"What are you doing?" Black demanded, sounding half panicked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Taking the stitches out, durh brain, remind me to get dissolvable ones next time."

"Shouldn't you go to a doctor for that?" Kim asked, wincing as Leah handed me a knife.

"Nah, I could just about qualify as a medic myself. Plus, I hate doctors. They annoy the hell out of me. I've been thrown out of a hospital for assaulting one before." They laughed and shook their heads. "Hey, in my defence, it was reflex. He hit a spot and I just…kicked him."

"Why were you in hospital that time?" Tasha frowned, trying to recall the event. I never know if I tell her these things or not.

This one, though, I actually didn't have to lie about. "Oh it was over a year ago I think. It was night and I went downstairs for something with all the lights off. Benny must have been staying with me 'cause I slipped on one of his toys on the stairs and fell…"

"Oh!" She said, remembering. I must have told her. "Didn't you land on a coffee table or something?"

"Yeah, a glass coffee table, I had a shard stuck in the top of my thigh and Dan, of course, completely freaked out and dragged me to the closest hospital to get it out." I slit the first stitch and pulled it out. "The doctor was inspecting it and must've just triggered a nerve in my leg. Anyway, I kicked him and he was flung back into one of those tables with all their instruments on it. He landed funny, and, well, broke his arm."

"You're incredible." Tash chuckled. "Only you could go to a hospital with an injury, kick a doctor and break his arm."

I snickered. "Well, he should've been more careful. It took Danny all night to convince him not to sue me." I did another stitch, making sure that the wound was holding fine without them. "At least he was in the right place to break his arm."

"Very comforting for him, I'm sure." Rachel laughed. "You're always getting hurt, every time I talk to Tash she's got another story about you getting injured."

"It's a talent." I grinned proudly.

"It shouldn't be…" Black grumbled and Sam nodded in agreement.

"Proves she's tough," Leah jumped in quickly, grinning at me.

"Damn straight." I laughed.

"Eew!" A new voice said, we looked up at the missing four coming through the door. Seth, Collin, Brady and Kevin were wrinkling their noses. "Why are you cutting up your leg?" Collin asked, swiping muffins off the table.

I snorted. "Don't be such a girl. There isn't even any blood, sooks."

"Am not!" Brady protested. "Just cause Collin is doesn't mean the rest of us are! It's not contagious."

"You hope." I pointed out, grinning at him. "If I don't see you four in school tomorrow, I swear I will personally drag each and everyone of you to your desks and chain you there. Then come back and move you from class to class and I'll be checking that you've actually done work to."

"What about the rest of them?" Kevin groaned. "Why do you hate us all of a sudden?"

"The rest are old farts, there's no hope for them. There is however hope for you, and I won't have it slipping away." I said, continuing with my stitches. "Sethy, I'll make it a rule that you have to get a good report card before I let you come to my place."

He groaned and the rest went into jealous mode. "How come he gets to go to your place?" Black. "Yeah, where's our invite?" Quil. "I'm not on the floor!" Kev. "You fools aren't coming!" Leah. "Why not?" Max. "What would be the point in going away if you came to?" Leah.

I rolled my eyes and took out the last stitch. "My place isn't big enough to house all of you. Why the hell would I want to see you more then necessary anyway?"

"You're horrible." Vinnie pouted, then ducked at Black threw a fork at his head. Georgie glared at him as it nearly got her, this made Vinnie growl, like actually growl, at Black.

"Thank you for noticing, Vincent." I said, not bothering to acknowledge Black. I rolled my leg to get a good look at it on every angle possible before rolling the pants leg back down and removing it from Embry's lap. "I practice."

"Aunty Evie!" Benny's sing-song voice echoed from the lounge.

Without looking up from my coffee cup I answered. "What do you want, BB?"

"Come watch a movie with us!" He called.

"Yeah! We're watching Beauty and the Beast!" Claire added and I smiled softly.

"Are not!" Ben protested. "That's a girl movie!"

"Silence! Compromise, my dears," I ordered, I couldn't take small children bickering with this headache. They have the ability to reach sonic volumes. "Why don't we watch Beauty and the Beast then what you want to watch, BB? Or find one you both like so we can do something else after, sound fair?" I rose from my seat and went into the lounge room, leaning against the door to watch the pair think about this.

Finally Benny nodded, although reluctantly. "Alright, but we're not watching Disney Princesses."

Claire huffed. "Then what?"

"Let's have a look, shall we?" I sat down in front of the dvd stack and started sorting through it. Both the kids crawled over to sit either side of me and watch. "Okay, what about the Lion King? Or Monster's Inc, Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Antz, Robin Hood? There's lots."

"Monster's Inc!" Benny said immediately.

"No, Finding Nemo!" Claire protested.

"Ah! Decide nicely or I'll pick." I threatened. Benny knew how to share, and I'm sure Claire did to.

They had a mini stare off before Ben sighed and, very diplomatically, suggested. "What about The Lion King?"

Claire thought about it. "That's the one about the bad uncle, isn't it?"

I smiled and nodded. "Sure is, what do you say, Claire?"

She nodded slowly. "Okay, we can watch that one."

I chuckled and took out that dvd. "That wasn't hard, was it?"

"What can we do after? Can we go see the beach?" Ben asked excitedly.

"Noooo! We have to make cookies!" Claire returned.

I shot them both a warning look and they hushed. "How long are you here for, Claire?"

"Till tomorrow afternoon," She replied seriously. She was such a funny little thing, bossy and cute. Her teenage years would be a joy.

"Then we have plenty of time to go to the beach and make cookies." I said, getting up and collecting the right remote, then went to one of the bigger lounges. Quil and Black had both migrated to the living room and were watching us with amusement.

I flopped into the comfy lounge and made room for Ben to climb up next to me. Claire surprised me when she got up and demanded a place next to me to. "You promise?" She asked, eyeing my sceptically.

I nodded and smiled at her. "I promise, sweetheart. Cross my heart."

She smiled and snuggled into my stomach next to Ben. "Okay then,"

We fell into comfortable silence as the movie started. I made a mental note to tease the two guys about willingly watching a little kid's movie later. Not that I could really blame them, Walt Disney was awesome.

A/N: So, how was that one? I've had little kids around me recently so, yeah, that's where all the Claire-Ben interaction came from lol. That one was a little more dramatic then I had thought it'd be, too. But that's the way it came out.

I hope you enjoyed reading it, I'd love to hear what you thought of it, so please review!

~Meg xx