AN: *ducks from flying objects* I am soooooooooooo sorry, this took forever. Seriously, having a job sucks. Why people do this, I don't know. I'm not taking summer classes so I am hoping to get more writing done and maybe I can finish one or two stories. Thank you all for still reading and reviewing, but the pessimistic "are you EVER going to update?" comments really need to stop. I don't mind when its in jest, or even a serious question, but when you sound like a whiny teenager, it makes me want to kill. But still, thank you for reading and enjoy!

Chapter Eight

Mother Of Mine

So, I had to wait days for Seth to come back. Talk about boring! I stayed out of trouble, mostly because I kind of locked myself in my room when I wasn't in my classes. I picked up extra school work so I could take the time off to find my mother. I had to tell my teachers that I would be gone for a little while. When I told them it was about my mother they lost any form of an argument they had and gave me a paper with what I'd need to do for two weeks.

It took three days but Seth finally came home, without any injuries or vampires. Everyone told me to give him some time to unwind form the trip, but I was already waiting in his bedroom with one of my textbooks, trying to get as much homework done as I could.

He walked up to his room and I froze. I was sitting in the middle of his bed, surrounded by books and empty food wrappers. He didn't even look surprised to see me.

"Brady said I had a pest problem." He said smiling.

"I need you to come with to find my mother." I spewed instantly.

Seth lost his smile and his eyes filled with concern. I waited for him to say something, to try and talk me out of it because he is probably the only one who could, but he didn't.

I felt awkward standing in the silence so I filled it with whatever I could. "Claire said she'd find out where she is, but she won't tell me unless you come with me." I said stiffening up.

He nodded. "Okay," He said simply and turned to his closet and pulled a duffle bag out and started shoving clothes inside of it.

I scrambled off of the bed and ran up to him. "You're not going to argue?" I asked shocked. I had been planning a speech for him, I had pulled every possible retort he might have and he didn't even argue. I was almost disappointed.

"No, I don't have anything to argue about." He said with a shrug.

It had to be the calmest, coolest, simplest statement I'd ever heard from him. There wasn't a doubt in his mind, tone or body language. I could read him like a book after all.

"Are we leaving any time soon?" He asked confused, since I was still standing there, staring at him.

"Uh, yeah." I stammered.

"So hurry up," He said waving me off.

We gathered what we needed and loaded it into my car. I preferred mine and it did better than his did on trips. But it really wasn't much of a trip. I just kind of wanted something to rub in my mother's face that I got without her.

We got into the car and started driving toward the highway and I was staring to settle into the fact that I was really going to face my mother when he veered away from the path.

"What are we doing?" I asked annoyed, starting to regret letting him drive.

"Clearing this trip with your dad." He said casually.

"What?" I hissed.

"I'll take you wherever Willa, but only with his permission." He said seriously.

"This is stupid." I grumbled, slipping down deeper into my seat.

"You'll be fine." He said rolling his eyes.

It didn't take very long to get to my house. I didn't want to be there. I had already spoken to Claire about it and it seemed to be enough in my mind then again, Seth was generally my conscious, whether I liked it or not.

Seth strode into my house, like it was his own, and smiled at my dad while he lounged on the couch in front of the TV. "Hey Jeff," Seth said casually.

"Hey Seth, how was the trip?" My dad asked, managing to look away from the TV for a second.

"Not bad." Seth told him with a nod.

I rolled my eyes at the niceties and moved Seth out of the way. "He wants to know if you'll let me go to find Mom." I said bluntly.

"Oh," My dad muttered.

"Answer him please." I asked annoyed.

"I'll take care of her Jeff," Seth said honestly and gallantly.

"I don't doubt that Seth," My dad said as he shook his head and stood.

He walked right up to me, I had to look up at him because he was still taller and I was just in my black rain boots.

"I want daily updates, I mean it Willa or I'm sending the cops after you. He'll be the victim in my story and you'll be locked up. Do you understand me?" He asked seriously.

I almost laughed just thinking about that outcome. "Yes," I said with a nod.

"Alright," He said with a long sigh then pulled me into an awkward hug. I wasn't good with hugs, but I obliged him for the moment. "Good luck," He whispered to me before he let me go.

"Thanks Dad," I said quietly.

Seth gave my dad another nod and then we left the house. I didn't need anything else because I had most of it packed and ready in my car since Claire agreed. Seth beat me to the driver's seat again and I plopped into the passenger seat.

"Don't look so annoyed, he's your dad, its his job to protect you." Seth said rolling his eyes at me.

"Not from my own mother." I argued.

"Well she up and left thirteen years ago with your sister and left you, yeah, he can still protect you from her." He pointed out.

"Are you on his side here?" I asked, turning in my seat, getting ready to punch him out of frustration.

"We have a lot in common." He said diplomatically, only making me want to hit him more.

"Like what?" I snapped.

"We both want you happy and safe." He said sweetly.

"Don't get sappy on me now." I said with a snarl. I didn't want to be turned to mush from his sweet words.

"Are you going to be okay Willa?" He asked seriously.

"Yes, I'll be fine, stop worrying." I groaned, getting more and more tired of people thinking I was going to break at a moment's notice.

"You're going to face your mother about everything she did to you, its not something that you take all that casually." He tried to point out logically.

"I said I'll be fine." I grunted.

"I'll let it drop for now, but just think about it, okay, and if you're not ready, then we'll go back." He told me.

"Just drive Seth." I grumbled, slinking lower into my seat and staring out the window, looking away from him. He knew what I knew deep down. If this didn't go right for me, I was only going to be more fucked up but it wasn't going to stop me.

He did drive, we managed to get into Forks before he stopped, again. This time it was at a diner. I was going to explode very soon.

"Why are we stopping?" I asked fuming.

He opened his door then turned to look at me. "Unless you want me to pee on the dashboard…" He trailed off.

"Ugh! Fine, go!" I yelled, pushing him out of the car.

I counted the seconds it took him to 'relieve himself' while pondering violent and cruel things to do to him for making me wait even longer. I was on my second scenario with a wood-chipper and fire when he came back. Instead of going back to his seat, he opened my door and leaned down to look at me.

"Hungry?" He asked coolly.

"No," I snarled.

"Okay then," He said with a shrug then shut my door and walked back to the diner.

I threw my seatbelt off and jumped out of the car. "Seth!" I screamed over the cars he had covered.

"I'm eating, with or without you." He told me simply as he continued to walk.

I stopped for a moment and thought about hotwiring my own car and just leaving him when my stomach growled. I shut my door and then stalked up to him and resisted the urge to throw him into a wall. "I might kill you before this is over." I hissed at him while he walked me through the dining room.

"Why, because I'm making you eat?" He asked with a grin.

"You're slowing us down on purpose." I snapped as he took a seat in the corner, I dropped into the booth and glared at him as he sat in front of me.

"Willa, I've known you almost all of your life, I would never have a chance to try to stop you or slow you down. But you do need food and water. I promised Jeff I would look out for you and this is what it entails." He told me simply.

"Fine," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Stop sulking, you look like a toddler." He said rolling his eyes as he looked at the menu.

I didn't even look at what they had, Seth already knew what I liked and would order me something no matter what I did so it was futile. I glared out over the people of the mediocre establishment and wished Seth wasn't all-knowing and invincible.

"What can I get ya'll to eat?" The entirely too perky older woman asked us. I shut my mouth and dropped my head onto the table and let Seth do all the work.

After lunch, which I just scarfed down the burger Seth ordered me and he ate my fries, Seth got milkshakes to go and we went back to my car. That's when I realized I didn't have the address from Claire, I took out Seth's phone from his pocket and dialed Quil. HE was more apt to answer Seth than me

"Seth, what's up?" Quil asked happily.

"I need to talk to Claire." I said firmly.

"Willa, don't you have your own phone?" He asked tiringly.

"Don't you have your imprint?" I asked snidely.

"Willa?" Claire asked confused, a moment later.

"What's mom's address?" I asked quickly.

"Where's Seth?" She countered.

"I'm calling from his phone, is that not proof enough?" I asked annoyed.

"No," She said simply.

I groaned and shoved the phone into Seth's hand. "Hello?" Seth asked cheerfully. "Oh, hey Claire." He said nicely.

"Get the address!" I yelled at him.

Seth looked at me and huffed. "Yeah, I've got her." He said with a sigh as he took a notebook I had tossed in my car with a pen and scribbled something down. "We'll talk to you soon." He said before he hung up the phone. "That's the address." He said as he handed me the notebook.

I stared at the address for a while. It felt like I had just gotten the key to a vast and dangerous treasure. Almost like I wasn't supposed to have it.

"Do you know where it is?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," He said with a nod.

"So what are we waiting for?" I asked impatiently.

"Willa-" He started, seriously.

"No! Stop trying to talk me out of this, just get me to that address." I ordered, shoving the notebook back at him and putting my seatbelt back on.

He looked a little depressed at my attitude and I felt a ping in my chest for putting that look on his face. "Okay," He said quietly and started driving, again, toward the highway.

It was a deathly quiet drive. Not that I wouldn't have talked, but it was mostly from Seth. Everything in his body language told me he did not want to go through with it. I really wasn't even mad anymore, now I was just anxious. My chest felt like I had a million pounds resting on it and I couldn't take a breath without feeling like it was crushing me even more. I didn't know if it was about my mom or Seth, but the twist I got in my gut every time I looked over at Seth knew the answer.

The trailer park my mother resided in at the moment was still in Washington, but closer to Seattle then Forks so the drive wasn't a quick one. It was a nice place, kind of reminded me of Port Angles in a way. In the park, Seth drove to an empty lot and parked. I recognized the red truck two lots away. I got out of the car and Seth followed.

"Now or never." I heard Seth say from behind me.

"I thought you didn't want me to do this." I said as I turned to look at him.

"I don't because I don't want to see you hurt, but this is still something you have to do for yourself." He said knowingly, but with a sad look in his eyes. He leaned down and kissed me, softly and sweetly and all of my crappy feelings melted away.

I swallowed hard and turned from Seth to the trailer and started to walk. I heard Seth following me, and I didn't mind. It was nice to know he was there if I needed him to get me out, or hide the body. However this turned out.

At the trailer, there were fold out steps leading to the only door. I stopped and took another breath as Seth leaned against the trailer a few feet away. I knocked lamely at first, then with more force until I heard movement from inside and then I froze.

I hadn't gotten this far in my mind, and I didn't even know what I should say when she opened the door, but I really didn't have to worry about that. When the door opened my mother, still beautiful, looked at me worryingly.

"Willa, what are you doing out here? Does your father know?" She asked panicking.

It was weird to actually have my mother, my real mother, in front of me, concerned about me. "He let me come out. Claire gave me the address." I said feeling smaller by the second, mostly because she was three feet higher up than me.

"It's not safe for you to be out here alone." She said shaking her head.

I glanced at Seth from the corner of my eye, because she hadn't seen him yet and he shook his head. He had seen most of her fury first hand. "I just wanted to talk to you." I said, trying not to draw any attention to the giant man leaning against her trailer.

She looked at me for a long minute before she moved aside. "Come in," She said with a small smile.

I hauled myself up the stairs and shut the door behind me. I could see Seth freaking out in the back of my head.

"Willa, you are so pretty." She said with a happy sigh.

"Good genes, I guess." I said with a shrug. I had a million people tell me that, it wasn't going to change anything coming from her.

"Why are you so hostile?" She asked sadly.

That was the can of worms I didn't want her to open. "Why wouldn't I be? My mother left me when I was a toddler and took my sister with her." I snapped.

"I didn't leave you." She tried to tell me.

"Why did you leave?" I asked confused.

"Them!" She hissed.

Was I expecting a different answer? Yes, I really was. Even though I had seen it first hand and Claire already warned me. I expected it to be different. "Seriously! They are the ones that took me to school while my father worked, by himself, to support us! They are the ones who took care of me when I was sick! They went to my stupid school play! All of them!" I yelled, tears coating my cheeks. "Dammit woman, they were my family when you left. They are my family now. And they always will be." I said firmly, blatantly

"Oh, no, not you too." She said as her breath stuttered. "Darling, if I had known it happened to you too, I would have taken you with us." She said almost in tears as she tried to pull me into a hug, but I wrenched myself away.

"Are you on fucking crack? You are so ignorant that you would have left my father with Dana, what if she had been imprinted on, would you have just left him?" I asked amazed at her reasoning.

"He didn't understand, he wouldn't listen to me." She said, looking crazed as she did.

"That's because he's not bat-shit insane!" I yelled.

"We could have been a family but he wouldn't leave." She said angrily.

"So, it's his fault that you left? That doesn't even follow logical sense." I said baffled.

"You are too young to understand." She said hardheadedly.

"That's just the bullshit excuse that adults use when they know they are wrong." I scoffed.

"Do not use that language with your mother!" She tried to yell at me.

"I'm not, I'm using it with the woman who birthed me and left me." I said harshly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know, I wish I had taken you." She told me sadly.

"I watched, my whole life, what you did to Quil. I would rather die, then do that Seth." I said with my voice catching, just thinking about what that would do to him. No one deserved that, but Seth was the last person on the planet that should have to go through something like that. "And if the only way you'll ever be a part of my life is if they aren't in it, then you lose." I said surely.

"Willa!" She cried out.

"No! They never gave me ultimatums, they've always been there and they will always be there. If you can't do that, then whatever, have a nice fucking life." I spat as I threw the door open and jumped down the stairs.

I was going to start for my car but Seth magically appeared in front of me and made me stop.

"Willa," Seth said softly, wiping the tears away.

My mother was out of the trailer now and lost her shit when she saw Seth. "You?" She screamed.

I grabbed Seth's hand and pulled him to my car, away from my mother. It was going to hurt him, anything she would say, probably more than he was already hurting. I wanted to drive, I felt like I needed to, so I dug the keys out of his pockets and got in the driver's seat. Seth went to the passenger's seat while my mother yelled incoherent things from her trailer.

I sped off as soon as the door was shut behind Seth and I didn't even look twice at her. I was disgusted. I was infuriated. I was on the verge of fucking crying. No matter how angry or tough I am, I am still a girl and all I could think was that my mother didn't love me enough to put up with werewolves, or to even take me with her unless she knew Seth had imprinted on me as well. I was lacking in some way that I didn't even deserve the effort.

I started crying then, hysterically. Seth forced me to pull the car to the side of the road and killed the engine, taking the keys away from me. I tried to fight him for them but he took my seatbelt and pulled me into his arms and crushed me against his chest. There was no fighting once you were in that hold.

I sobbed against his warm chest until it felt like I didn't have any fluid left in me and I just folded myself into his lap and clutched his shirt.

"Why am I always so fucking wrong?" I asked, my voice wavering close to tears once more.

Seth didn't answer, he peppered my face with kisses until my breath evened out again.

"Is there something wrong with me?" I asked in a whisper.

Seth knew what I meant, how I meant and about who and he didn't like my question, I could feel it in the way his fingers clenched around me. "Not to me." He said as he buried his nose into my neck so he could hold me tighter.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and clung to him because that's exactly what you tell a girl when she is convinced her mother didn't love her. Because who needs a fucking mother when I've got a tall, muscled, gorgeous, shape-shifter that would kill and destroy for me and would always love me, no matter what I did? I don't need her. I don't want her. I want Seth. I want him forever and I don't want to see that woman again if she doesn't fucking like it. Not that I care.

AN: Review!