SO this is short….but I got some inspiration, so here it is! AND I used spell check! *gasp* I know.
Disclaimer: I own my story. Nothing else.
"Ow! Bella! How did you know?"
Bella shook the spoon she had used to smack him with. "Blindness does not equal ignorance! Now keep your hands out of the cookies! You've already had six!"
"But Bella…"
"Quil! No! Emily is coming over! Now go make sure Seth and Jared are still cleaning and not goofing around."
"Yessum." Quil said happily and walked off to seek out his brothers.
A lot had happened in a month's time. Sam had Imprinted, found his Mate. Emily Young. She was Sam's girlfriend's cousin. Which did not make for pleasant family gatherings. But fate is fate.
Sam had had it rough. He was still dating Leah when he met Emily and the magic happened. Emily wasn't keen on the idea that her cousin's boyfriend, and then ex-boyfriend, liked her. She refused him. Even tried to fight him off. But she had angered him, unintentionally, and was standing too close to him when he got angry. Sam had phased. Right in front of her. In Anger. And he had hurt her, one of his large paws coming down over her delicate skin and marring it. She had three lines that ran from her cheek down her arm and a smaller line at her waist. She had spent a month in the hospital, healing. Sam hadn't left her side the entire time. During that time Bella had been to visit her on multiple occasions and had formed a friendship. Emily had accepted Sam and the wolves faster than Sam could process. It was the bond. She tried to push him away, but as soon as she would she would regret it and beg him to come back. Sam was still having trouble accepting what he had one to her, and Bella feared he always would. He had spent many a night at Bella's home, the horror of what he had done replaying in his mind at a constant stream. The hospital didn't like for non-family to stay during the nights so he had to be away from her for those hours, and it was torture. Bella could imagine. Jake had been working more. The La Push Garage was now open and running strong. All the guys worked there whenever they weren't on patrol. They were all good with cars. But that wasn't the only reason he was gone so much. There was a vampire in the area. They kept finding the scent closer and closer to the Rez every few days and they would follow it. But it disappeared. Same every time.
Christmas was right around the corner and Bella was expecting a bigger family income than usual. Esme had claimed that Bella was out of town with friends during Thanksgiving, and luckily Edward and Emmet had bought her story and didn't look around to check it out. Bella and Alice spent Thanksgiving at Jacob's house. Alice even had her own room. The whole pack was there, as well as the few parents who knew the secret. Bella had cooked for three days prior to prepare enough food to feed the stomach's of the pack.
If Bella had thought that much food was a feast, then she was scared for Christmas. There were now eight members of the pack. Leah and Seth Clearwater had joined two weeks ago, much to Sam's disappointment. Even though he loved Emily now, there was still part of him that loved Leah too and hoped that she would be saved from this secret. She was also the first girl wolf in Quileute history. Her younger brother Seth was the youngest member to phase yet at only 16 years old. Leah still has not forgiven Sam for leaving her but after phasing she does understand that he really had no choice once he met Emily.
Bella was excited that she had some girls around now. Although Leah was not the most forthcoming, Bella was determined.
"Bella? Bella stop daydreaming, Seth's gonna eat all the cookies!"
That snapped her out of her thoughts. She also snapped a hand that was reaching for the platter of treats and knew from the "Ow" that it was indeed Seth.
"I told Quill the same thing! Leave your paws out of these cookies! Emily will be here any minute and you two are going to have eaten all the snacks I made! You've both eaten your portion; now go find something to do!"
"But Bella, were supposed to stay with you today. Alpha's orders."
"He said make sure there were no vampires roaming around, not eat everything that comes within 10 feet of you! Go play with Embry and Alice, I think they're out back!"
"Fine. And Sam's pulling up now with Emily."
Bella smiled. "Thankyou Seth. Now go play with your brothers and keep an eye on Alice."
"Yes ma'am!" And two sets of feet hurried out of the house just as there was a tentative knock on the door and then a few muttered apologizes as Quil and Seth must have almost trampled the poor girl.
Bella went to the door and ushered Emily inside.
"I'm sorry. I would tell them no running but I don't think it would do me any good. Although they should have at least had the manners to not trample you though the door."
Emily laughed softly. "That's okay. Sam pulled me back in time to avoid being trampled."
"Speaking of Sam where is he?"
"Oh, he's was late for Patrol. He was supposed to be there half an hour ago but we got a little distracted…."
Emily's voice faded and Bella just laughed, pulling her into the kitchen.
"Don't worry, he's with Paul today if I remember correctly. So I'm sure he hasn't even noticed Sam's absence."
"I hope so, I don't want him to get in trouble because of me and-"
"Don't worry Em. He won't get in trouble for being with his mate. Lord Knows even Jake's been late quite a few times because we get caught up."
Bella smiled at the thought and Emily giggled, blushing.
Emily followed Bella into the kitchen and gasped at the amount of sweets that were obviously missing from the now half empty tray.
Bella sighed. "Yeah, I can always tell that they eat more than their individual share, but the whole 'blind' thing kinda harbors me from seeing exactly how much."
Emily tried to hide her laugh but Bella heard it anyway and smiled. "That's okay, now that I have another girl around we'll get you a wooden spoon and you can start trying to protect the food before its actually meal time. Especially now, because of everything I'm trying to make in advance before Christmas."
"Wooden spoon? Seriously?"
Bella scoffed. "You try smacking any of these boys with just your hand and it'll hurt you 10 times worse than it hurts and of them!"
Emily laughed, "Wooden spoon it is then!"
After a few moments and some idle chatter, Emily sucked up all her courage to ask a question that had been weighing heavily on her mind.
"SO there's something that I really want to know, and I figure that you've been around longer than I have so you're who I should ask, but if you don't want to answer then that's okay, cause I don't want to like dig into your personal life or anything-"
"STOP! Jeez Em, you can talk a mile a minute. You can ask me anything, it's okay."
Emily took a deep breath then blew it out and tried to organize her thoughts.
"Okay, so the doctors have said that I'm healed enough that I can be… intimate again. I mean I already knew that, the wounds are just scars now and they hurt at all anymore, but the doctor confirmed it. And so I told Sam, because I thought that was the kind of news that you would tell your Mate, and he's constantly begging me to tell him what's on my mind, so I did. But….he ignored me. It was like I hadn't even spoken. And it wasn't like I expected him to jump me, well kinda, but I expected a response of some type. I mean, we kiss and make out. A lot. And I know he wants to go farther, I know, so I thought that this would be good news. And so today when we were….distracted, I thought maybe then he might, uhm, act on it. So I reminded him, and it had the opposite effect. He pulled away immediately, like he was burned by my words. And I mean, it kind hurt. So I asked him what was wrong and he said that it really, honestly had nothing to do with me, it had to do with the pack, and how we couldn't go that far yet. So…..here I am, confused, and hoping you have an answer. Is there something I have to do to become like, officially his mate? Before we can…mate?"
Bella listened to Emily. And listened. And was surprised at how long winded she was.
And then she realized the question. And realized she didn't have an answer.
"Bella?" Emily asked hesitantly.
"I'm thinking. I don't know, I mean…Jake and I…..he's been so busy lately, trying to catch the Vampire and working in the shop. He's usually out as soon as his head hits the pillow. We haven't had a chance to be…..intimate. So I don't know."
Emily sighed, defeated.
"No, no, don't worry. I'll figure it out. I'll ask Jake whenever we get some time alone tonight. I mean, that's something I want to know about too. That's something that I need to talk to him about."
"Bella I don't want you to ask on my behalf, I mean-"
"No, its okay. It's not on your behalf. It's something that he and I need to talk about. He's just been so busy. I worry about him. He doesn't sleep enough; doesn't get a chance to eat three meals, sometimes not even two. He forgets his lunch! A wolf! Forgetting their food! I have to have one of the boys take it to him at least two or three times a week. He hasn't had any time off at all."
Emily took Bella's hand in hers. "I'm so sorry Bella. I didn't realize. I shouldn't have been passing my problems off onto you."
"No, no! Emily it's okay! They're not problems! Besides, there are no secrets in this pack, not with the whole mind reading thing. And they're teenage boys. There are no secrets. Any time you need anything I'm here! Please believe that."
Emily smiled. "I believe you Bella. But you need to believe that I am always here for you too."
Bella smiled. "Deal. Now come on, lets get some baking done. Its so rare that none of the guys are in the house while I'm cooking and always stealing food. This is a once in a lifetime chance! So I say let's not waste it!"
Bella jumped up out of her seat and Emily followed, laughing.
"So I guess I'm not the only one who's noticed how much they can eat."
"Em, I'm blind and I've noticed!"
And the laughing began, carrying on through the afternoon as they cooked and swatted away grabby fingers.
Review! Comments and criticism, because you catch things I don't! As always, thank you for reading! REVIEW!