Are you all still reading?!

Thank you for the reviews, follows etc I did get! I'm trying to update more regular as I feel it will help me keep readers so just let me know every now and then that you all still are reading! This chapter is a lot more of Sam and Savannah, I feel they need it after the last chapter where Sam had a freak out! For those commenting on whether she will leave, not yet...or maybe not at all.. who knows, but for now she's in La Push, I still need to build her character and relationships!

Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts :D

I do not own Twilight

I walked across an empty land

I knew the path like the back of my hand

I felt the earth beneath my feet

Sat by the river and it made me complete

Keane- Somewhere only we know

Sam had apologised. Not that it lifted the horrible feeling lying deep in my chest, I knew the feeling well, it was a feeling that had lay with me since a girl at school told me I only had a mom because my dad didn't want me. I had run home in a state, desperate for my mom to tell me it wasn't true and that the truth was the story she had always told me about my father being away 'helping' people. She had said nothing, she had simply stared at me whilst opening and closing her mouth out of shock, it was that moment when I knew her stories were lies and the truth was that I wasn't wanted by the man who was supposed to be my hero. I was six. Although I never knew my father, he was just a name without a face to me but I still longed for him. I always had that hurt that I hadn't been good enough for him, that he hadn't wanted his daughter. I didn't think the feeling could get worse; that was until my brother seemingly didn't want me either. That hurt. A lot. Sam was never mean, Sam was never loving, but he was never mean. Yesterday he had been mean, he had made me feel like a pain in his ass, like he didn't want me here and then once he planted that feeling in me, he walked back in with a guilty smile on his face and apologised by offering me candy. I was beginning to dislike the men from this place, La Push; it produced Joshua Uley, Paul Lahote and Sam Uley, each of them holding the ability to make me feel so low it was pathetic.

I looked up from my place at the kitchen table; Sam gave me a smile as he threaded popcorn onto string and placed another in his mouth. The glint his eye held showed his age, he was still young despite the fact he looked like a fully grown adult and had all these 'responsibilities' he kept talking about. I had been too harsh, he wasn't mean. Something was bothering him and it had something to do with me but he wasn't mean. Maybe I was acting unhappily, maybe I wasn't laughing enough or talking enough. I talked as much as I could, I laughed as much as I could. My shoulders deflated again as I realised I couldn't be any more normal if I tried, I wasn't unhappy here, I liked it here and I didn't know how else I could show it apart from what I was doing now.

I watched as Sam continued to threat popcorn, every other piece entering his mouth rather than the string. Emily had gone out to get Sue Clearwater, Seth's mom. She and Kim were coming here for a day of Christmas activities apparently, it was Christmas Eve and the guys were all busy working or visiting family, Seth was helping Jacob and so Sue was coming here, whereas Kim's parents had gone last minute shopping with her sister and so she didn't want to spend the day alone. I watched him a little longer, glimpses of the old Sam flashed at me as he went about his business seemingly unaware that I was watching him. He hadn't changed all that much since the last time he had visited, he had grown obviously and he had become slightly more serious but he was still kind, wise and in his own way playful. He hadn't said what he said yesterday to upset me.

"You're giving me the creeps" His rough voice made me jump as it broke across the silence of the house, my chair screeched backwards as my feet pushed against the floor in startle. I simply looked at him, a guilty smile slithering across my mouth as he glanced up at me. "Why are you staring at me?" Maybe he had noticed.

"I was just observing" I answered trying to sound innocent and not like a stalker. He just grinned at me as I scooted myself back toward the wooden table now littered in popcorn and string. The silence came back for a minute, he just grinned while continuing on with the task Emily had set him while I wrote out Christmas present tags for various people, most of which I hadn't even met.

"Remember when we wanted to make popcorn but you had no popping corn"

"So we used sweet corn with toffee syrup on" I finished his sentence for him as the memory washed over me.

"Our mom's were so mad" He laughed along with me and I nodded, they had gone bat shit crazy at us when they found us staring at the microwave that was covered in burnt sweet corn and toffee syrup stuck on the sides.

"Yeah and you blamed it all on me" I pointed at him, accusation screaming in my voice. He was such a wimp.

"Well you shouldn't have done it"

"I was nine" I argued back with him and he laughed again. "Besides it was your idea, you were the older one and you just hung me out to dry. I was grounded for a week; do you know how hard it is being nine and being grounded? I couldn't ride my bike down the street for seven days, seven days with no bike action. Not just any bike"

"A bright blue racing bike with red stripes down the side. I remember that bike, you were obsessed with that bike" Sam pointed at me, a fond smile brightening his face again. The pain in my chest eased a little as I heard his words; maybe he had paid attention on his visits. I needed to give this guy more credit. "What happened to that bike?" He frowned at me a little and my smile faded, that bike ripped out my heart.

"Mom gave it to a kid down the road apparently he was less fortunate than us, although I don't see how, I mean they had a computer" I made a face, that kid was a little shit. He was not less fortunate than me.

"Because they had a computer?" Sam rose a brow at me and I nodded.

"We didn't have a computer until last year; and I worked three months overtime at the diner to get that. Plus that kid had his own bedroom; I shared one with mom until I was fifteen and even then I only got my own one because she moved to the couch. Less fortunate my ass" I rolled my eyes earning a round of laughter from Sam. He glanced down at the tag I was writing, it was for someone named Edna Stevens.

"You haven't signed your name" He pointed out and I frowned at him, why would I sign my name?

"I do not know an Edna, nor did I pay for the present" I shrugged and his grin came back.

"It's a knitted scarf, hardly broke the bank" He stopped, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me. "And Edna Stevens is your grandmother"

I stopped mid way through writing Merry Christmas and looked back up at my brother. "My grandma died and her name definitely was not Edna" I corrected him but my heart began fluttering fast.

"The grandma you knew died; the grandma you never met is still very much alive and is definitely called Edna. Edna Stevens-Uley, and dying to meet you" He pointed at me, a soft smile slipping across his face. My heart picked up again and I found myself getting hotter under his stare and his words. I knew I had two sets of Grandparents, most people did. But I guessed they had died, I would never meet them. Why would I when I never met my father?

"His parents" I whispered and Sam nodded, his body falling tense as I mentioned the father we never had. "So why am I signing this to Edna Stevens?" I stiffened my back and tried acting like this information wasn't affecting me.

Sam gave a chuckle before rolling his eyes. "Well, pops died a couple years ago and Gran being Gran thought that if she stopped using the name Uley she would pick up a stud muffin, her words not mine, at her local old persons activity centre. She's a little, well, crazy" He laughed harder and I gave a slight chuckle too, an old woman saying stud muffin, or even contemplating looking for a man after her husband dies had to be a little crazy. "Heart of gold though, and she keeps ringing Emily asking when she can meet her other grandchild"

I frowned harder again, why would she want to meet me?

"She knew about me?" I asked quietly and Sam nodded while giving me a look like I was the crazy one. "Why? Why would she know or care?" Again, Sam looked at me like I was stupid and readjusted his position in his seat.

"Why wouldn't she care? You're her granddaughter. She knew the minute my mom knew, her and pop really stepped up when he left, they helped us out a lot and so my mom told them, they always wanted to come and meet you but they were too old to fly, too scared to intrude. You don't have to meet her, I didn't mean it like that" He suddenly added on the end and my heart went crazy again, I hadn't ever thought of meeting other family, especially from his side. Him being Josh Uley. But I shook my head at Sam and shrugged.

"I guess I could meet her" I nodded now and he smiled, his hands crawling back for the popcorn.

"Good, she can stop ringing me at all hours of the day asking if she can pop over. The only thing she will pop if she moves from her chair is her hip"

I laughed at that, Sam joined in and I realised as I sat there laughing with my half brother, we had just had the first real conversation since I had got here. It wasn't about the guys, or about what I liked or disliked or awkward questions about school that were forced out by Emily, it was just a conversation. It felt nice, normal. As the laughter stopped the silence came back, but it wasn't awkward, it just was. I didn't sign my name, I just wrote out what Emily told me too and moved on to Embry's tag, I was going in alphabetical order.

"You can hardly talk about me getting you into trouble, remember that time you made me go to watch that god awful musical, what was it called?" Sam suddenly spoke and I jumped again, his voice was far too low and booming for a quite house like this. I just looked at him, not quite sure what he was on about. "Oh come on, you know the one I mean. It was your birthday and we saw that musical" He carried on, I shook my head at him. I knew what he was on about now but I said nothing just waited for whatever he was getting ready to do.

"Ahh you were like 12" He sat bolt upright now, moving his hands around as if trying to remember something.

"What are you on about?" I fake frowned, Annie, he was on about Annie. It was playing in Chicago around my birthday and Sam and his mom were coming so we got tickets, I was ten, not twelve. My mom sent us with ten dollars to get drinks during the break and Sam left me in the middle of a crowd while he got mesmerised by the girl behind the counter. Long story short, I got so upset I burst into the theatre just as the show was starting crying my eyes out holding a melted ice cream. Sam got grounded and I got a new ice cream, and I didn't get told off once when I spent the next three days singing Annie tunes to him at the top of my voice.

"Mmm mmm mmm tomorrow...That one" He grinned like a child being praised for doing something good and banged his hand on the table. "Just thinking about tomorrow, hold on till tomorrow, duh duh duhhh"

I wanted to laugh as he started singing but my eyes fell on the window behind him, I could see out to the yard and I could see that Emily had pulled up with Sue, not just Sue but Kim and Jared. Instead I frowned harder at him and he sung louder, very out of tune.

"The sun will come out tomorrow duh duh duh duh duh duh tomorrow, there'll be sun. Think of a day grey and lonely, stick out your chin and grin and say" He was waving his hands around, his face getting annoyed as I continued to frown at him like I had no clue but the door behind him had now opened and his fiancé could most definitely hear him.

I waited for them to walk in and catch the end of his singing before standing up and grinning down at my brother. "Sorry Sam, I have no idea. Do any of you know that song? It's from Sam's favourite musical, second to Cats of course" I smiled sweetly as the group came in through the door and Sam span around to see them all watching him like he had lost his mind. Big serious Sam singing a song about sunshine and happiness, he turned back to look at me with what can only be described as severely unimpressed.

"You are evil. Always have been, always will be" Sam grunted as he made an attempt to look manly as he leant back in his chair and puffed his chest out.

"Do I even want to ask?" Emily was smiling now as she walked further in followed by the others who were also smiling as they watched Sam squirm under the attention.

"We were just taking a trip down memory lane; did Sam ever tell you about the time he lost me in a packed out theatre? He left me in a crowd while he went and chatted up some blonde girl who looked like she had been hit in the face with a spade" I smiled wider at Sam and he narrowed his eyes while shaking his head.

"Yeah well Savannah used to run around naked with pants on her head calling herself captain underpants" Sam looked at me, an evil smirk on his face.

"Aww that's cute" Kim piped up and Sam nodded.

"She was nine" He was such an ass. I went through a phase; I was still cute and little when I was nine.

"Yeah and Sam used to wear this awful leather jacket, he thought he was the Native American version of John Travolta, used to gel his hair up like this" I reached across the table and flicked a bit of his floppy hair up into a rolled out quiff. He slapped my hand away pretty quickly but Emily was already laughing.

"Ok ok, you win" Sam held his hands up defeat and pushed his chair back across the floor ready to stand up while a grinning Kim, Sue and Emily walked further into the house. Jared stayed hovering by the door, an equally big smile on his face. "But when Sav was fifteen I found her singing into a deodorant can whilst dancing in the mirror, what was it you called yourself? Savannah Montanna?" Sam winked at me and jerked up from his chair as I went to hit him, asshole.

"As fun as this is, we really need to go" Jared piped up from the door, his smile had grown but he was being serious and Sam nodded to him.

"I'll see you all later, get to bed early otherwise Santa won't come" He pointed to me and smiled again, I liked happy Sam better than grumpy Sam. I rolled my eyes and he copied me dramatically before walking toward the door. He stopped and turned back, his eyes looking at my pile of present tags. "Write your name on the tags, Savannah Uley" He was being serious, the way he said it made the pain in my chest clench before releasing and I found myself following him outside. A little spark of hope flurrying as I ran out onto the porch and followed him down the steps.

"Does that mean I can stay then? I don't have to go back?" I called out and he stopped, Jared turned with a frown on his face as he heard me and looked at his friend. He obviously didn't know about Sam's sudden words last night.

I watched as Sam looked back at me, his face expression sad and guilty as he shook his head. "I don't want you to leave, I was being an idiot. Now go and write your damned name on the cards" I smiled as he spoke, his words true and his expression softer. Maybe I had over reacted too quickly, Sam wasn't mean, he was hiding something that worried him but he didn't want me to leave and from the relief spreading through me I don't think I wanted too.

As Jared and Sam walked back toward the tree line a new body came out from the shadows to great them and Sam stopped suddenly, his body tensing as he ran into Paul. My own body froze as I lingered at the porch steps and my eyes hit his, he was quite beautiful, painfully so. As he looked at me he didn't look unkind or hateful, in some ways he looked confused, worried but as quickly as the moment happened Sam was shoving him harshly and angrily away and back into the trees. Jared offered me a final sad smile before vanishing after his friends and I was left to simply search the shadows of the cold wind swept trees.

"Savannah" A voice spoke behind me and I looked back to see Kim watching from the door. "Come on, the tree doesn't put itself up" She grinned and held the door open for me, I gave a final look to the trees, the feeling of someone watching me hitting me before I turned back and walked into the house that was now full with the sound of Christmas music. The three females inside the house all looked at me, the strangest looks on their faces.

I liked the people here, but damn were they strange. And hiding something, definitely hiding something.

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