AN: Thank you all for your input, you will learn of Willa's condition in the next chapter, hopefully. Thank you all for reading as well, it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. :D Enjoy this new chapter before I go and pass out. :P
Chapter Twenty-Six
Experience
Seth is a good driver. Gavin is a horrible passenger. We made it back to Nessie's home in good time, Seth dropped me off and I told Willa to call me when she got the test results back. She smacked Gavin when he faked concern and promised she would. Just as I got out of the car Alice rushed up to me and moved me into the house. Apparently, being alone for any amount of time is not permitted when there are stray vampires about.
"Is Quil here?" I asked hopefully as Alice closed the door behind us and the Mustang sped away.
"No, he, Jacob and Embry are already on their way to stop the vampire before he breaks the boundary line." She answered smiling. How can she smile at a time like this?! Oh, right, she's a vampire too.
"Is that all?" I demanded, my voice cracking in worry.
Nessie walked up to us from the stairs and placed a calming hand on my shoulder. "Brady, Jared and Paul and coming from the opposite direction and a few others are spread across the woods, they will be fine." She reassured me.
"Who else is here?" I asked trying to sound as calm as I could be. Even though there wasn't a part of me that was.
"Lena and Rachel and her two kids Daniel and Ellie, Kim is taking her daughter Camille to her mothers in Spokane." Nessie answered as she pulled me into the living room. I sat numbly on the couch with Nessie. "Are you okay?" She asked worried.
"This is just new for me." I answered shakily.
Nessie looked at me with her sad brown eyes and gave me a half hug and I didn't really care if she was half vampire at the moment because I needed a hug and she was good at giving them. Lena came striding out of the kitchen a few seconds later with half a sandwich and water. "You get used to it." She said simply.
"Really?" I asked amazed.
Lena flopped onto the couch diagonal to the one Nessie and I occupied and nodded. "Yup, you wouldn't believe how many vampires dig the Olympic Peninsula." She said sarcastically.
"How long does it usually take?" I asked anxiously.
"Depending on the guys, two days to a week." Lena said through a bite of her sandwich as she shrugged.
"A week? Why so long?" I asked sadly.
"They like to chase the leech around in circles." Lena answered still chewing. She sobered a few seconds later and looked to Nessie and Alice. "No offense." She said to Alice and Nessie, with a hint of fear in her voice.
"None taken," Nessie and Alice said in unison.
Alice pulled out her cell phone from her pocket suddenly and not a second later it rang. She answered it quickly with a smile. "Edward, everything is fine, he hasn't even come near the boundary." She said with an amused tone as she left the room.
"Who's Edward?" I asked confused as I leaned toward Nessie.
"My dad," Nessie said happily.
"Oh," I murmured. I don't remember her telling me that, I don't think she did either but I wouldn't know. I was too worried about everything else.
"Claire, want to play Guitar Hero?" Lena offered as she finished off her sandwich.
I watched the older woman stand and I nodded. "Sure," I said attempting to smile. It would be nice to have a distraction while the guys are away.
I suck at Guitar Hero. I mean, there is bad, then there is flat out horrible and I'm worse then that. I could, however, play the drums really well. After lunch I helped Rachel settle Daniel and Ellie into a nap. Daniel is two years old and his little sister is only nine months old and they are both adorable. Daniel is head over heels in love with Alice and Ellie is always trying to grab a picture of a gorgeous blonde man and his just as devastatingly beautiful brunette wife. Nessie told me they were her pseudo grandparents, Carlisle and Esme and that they often spent time with the werewolf offspring, Ellie was very attached to Esme since she didn't have any other grandmother. She also told me the story of how her mother came up with her name. It definitely cleared a few things up.
When we were sure the babies were asleep we all congregated in the living room and just started talking. We went through topic after topic, everything from hair color to make up to shoes and purses to what happened on the news last night and then, it fell upon an uncomfortable subject for me. Sex.
I honestly don't know how we got here, but Lena was explaining how she lost a chunk of her kidney while having rough sex with Embry at a construction cite.
Lena was standing, exposing her left side to show a mangled scar in her kidney area. "… So it went through both of us, but he healed so quickly that his body easily forgot the piece of flesh it left behind, mine wasn't so happy and I was in the hospital for three weeks. That was fun to explain." She chuckled as she lowered her shirt.
"I remember Embry wouldn't talk, or even blink when you were in surgery." Rachel said seriously.
"It was my own dumbass fault, who has sex on a pile of steel rods?" Lena asked smacking her own head.
"We're not denying that you're an idiot." Rachel said with grin.
"Thanks Rach, what about that time to desecrated that tree at your sons birthday party?" Lena asked somewhat disgusted.
"No one saw that!" Rachel yelled, stunned.
"I sure as hell did and that imagine doesn't just disappear!" Lena yelled back.
Rachel was going to yell something else back but we heard little Elli start crying. "You woke the baby!" She spat as she smacked Lena as she walked by her toward the stairs.
"You yelled first!" Lena called after her. She looked back to us and settled her eyes on me. "You okay Claire, you look as pale as the vampires." She asked me with a hint of concern in her voice.
"Yeah, fine." I assured weakly.
"Liar." Nessie almost cheered.
"Not comfortable talking about sex." Lena said as more of a statement then a question.
"It's just awkward, and I've had the sex talk and that was mortifying enough." I mumbled fearfully.
"Oh, well since we're here, you need some pointers for when you're with Quil." Lena said suddenly very excited.
"Excuse me?" I croaked.
She ignored me. "Honey, they are all proportioned to their body, with a little extra." Lena said with waggling brows.
"Oh my god." I groaned dropping my forehead to my hand.
"Pretty much," Lena said happily.
Rachel came down the stairs with Ellie in her arms. "Lena! Don't be so blunt." She yelled angrily. She walked up to us sat closest to me, letting Lena steal her baby girl from her arms. "What she's trying to say is, be prepared." She said soothingly.
"Yeah, and run the air conditioner before, it kills the mood for a second but its better than what will happen if you pass out." Nessie added seriously as she walked across the room and snatched Ellie from Lena and let the little baby crawl on the floor.
"You don't want that to happen, then he won't sleep with you for a friggin month because he's 'scared he'll hurt you'." Lena grumbled.
"We warned you." Rachel chuckled.
"I know!" Lena yelled frustrated. "Listen to them, I didn't and it wasn't pretty." She said to me sternly.
Everyone seemed to notice that I wasn't talking or even looking at them. "Claire?" Rachel asked timidly.
I looked up for a moment. "Just dying of embarrassment, that's all, continue." I said waving my hand.
Lena pointed at me with a severe look. "Don't forget to start on the pill, condoms are pretty much a no-no with their size and body heat." She said with a bit of panic in her voice. I don't want to know how she learned that.
I dropped my head to my knees and prayed that I would be killed to save myself from this embarrassment.
"And for all that is sacred, don't tell Quil we're tell you this, he already thinks I corrupted you." Lena hissed.
I snapped up to look at her with knitted brows. "How?" I asked befuddled. I hadn't seen her in a few days, how in the world could she corrupt me?
"You kissed him, twice." She pointed out. I nodded, still confused, how that had to do with Lena was beyond me. "I voiced my pride in the matter and he seems to think I told you to do it some how." She said rolling her eyes.
"What?" I ground out.
"You know, when you're angry, you blush a darker red, it's weird…" Lena trailed off pointing to my cheeks.
Rachel reached out and touched my shoulder gently. "Calm down Claire, you can confront him later." She said soothingly.
"I can kill him later." I corrected through my teeth.
"Whatever you do don't hit him!" Lena yelled hastily. "They are like rocks, if you want to hit them get a baseball bat or crowbar or lead pipe. Not only will you do damage but it won't break your hand." She said knowingly as she rubbed her left palm with a wince.
"Ow," I mumbled. I've broken my wrist before, I don't want to know what breaking my hand will feel like.
"Yeah, it hurts like a bitch. The only good part about it is it probably hurt him more than it hurt me." Lena said evilly.
"You are mean person." Nessie said with a frown.
"Yeah," Lena said proudly.
"Where were you this morning anyway?" Rachel asked me confused.
"Oh, um, with Willa." I answered nervously.
"She thinks she's pregnant." Alice corrected from her spot on the floor with Ellie. I didn't even notice she was down there.
"Who do you know?!" I demanded. I didn't tell her and I know Willa didn't tell her.
"I can see the future, like Nessie can show people what she wants them to see." Alice answered effortlessly. Lena and Rachel didn't seem surprised or effected in anyway.
"Huh," I mumbled. I've already met someone who could do that so I'm not really surprised. Its just interesting meeting someone else who can see the future, most people don't meet two people that can do that. "So, is she?" I asked curiously.
"That's for her to find out." Alice said firmly.
"She better not be, and then I'll have to wait months to kick her ass!" Lena yelled angrily.
"Oh, calm down Lena, we all know you think you're pregnant every other month." Rachel said rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, because I have ridiculous amounts of sex with my gorgeous man, she is barely sixteen and doesn't need to be having that much sex." Lena said strictly, waving her finger around like a stern teacher.
"What were you doing at that age Lena?" Nessie asked curiously.
Lena's looked guilty for a moment before she shot off the couch. "Is that my cell?" She asked as she wandered into the kitchen. Ellie started fussing and Rachel scooped her up and asked Alice if she could make a bottle while she changed her, leaving only me and Nessie in the living room. Nessie took Rachel's seat next to me and gave me a hug.
"Don't worry about it, everything will be fine." She said plainly.
"Are you always this calm?" I asked in a panic. I wasn't worried about a sex talk or my little sister, I was seriously worried about Quil and the rest of the guys. I hadn't really seen them in action so its hard for me to believe everything they are telling me.
"When its only one against as many as there are, yes." She answered casually.
"I'm really trying not to be so on edge, it's just hard." I said shakily.
"It's the first one, it gets easier." She said knowingly. I nodded, still pretty upset. "I have some old movies you might find amusing." She said grinning devilishly.
"Really?" I asked hopefully. That would help take my mind off panic mode.
"Yeah," She answered smiling.
Most of the home videos Nessie has, seem more like motion picture quality than the ones at my dad's house. I finally found out who Emmett was, a burly, dark haired vampire that carried me around on his shoulders while arm wrestling with Quil. During most of the movies Quil had my attention more than anyone and Emmett was a close second if he was around. I guess I have a thing for really muscled guys, even when I was a child I was constantly hanging off them.
Nessie made dinner with Alice and they are actually really good cooks even if they don't eat real food anymore. Daniel and Ellie were getting antsy without their father and Rachel was trying not to show she was getting worried as well. I could tell there was something going on when Lena started getting jumpy. But then seemed to calm down when Paul popped into tell us everyone was fine but the vampire was giving them quite the case. After hugging and kissing his wife and kids he ran back out and everyone but me seemed to calm down.
I went up to the guest bedroom given to me as soon as Paul left because I couldn't stay down there anymore. I had no idea the extent of either creature's abilities and it scared me. I've only seen how big werewolves are and I've only been hugged by a very tiny vampire and half vampire. It was getting harder to stay calm when over six werewolves haven't brought down one vampire yet. It had been almost twelve hours. Does it really take that long?
Lena came into my room and tried to coax me out of my room with Guitar Hero lessons and Rachel came in with Daniel to get me to follow her out, but I ended up declining Lena and snatching Daniel away from Rachel. The room I was in doubled as a library and I let Daniel pick a book and started reading to him to keep me from screaming.
Daniel is a very patient two year old. He sat perfectly still through the whole first chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before falling asleep two pages into the second chapter. I let him sleep next to me while I twirled his hair between my fingers. The little guy was almost as calming as Quil. Almost. He didn't have his fathers freakish body heat and he was only twenty-five pounds and it was mostly organs and blood, not much muscle.
I had him with me for two hours when his mother came and took him back, leaving a set of DVD's with me. I put on the movie at the top of the pile but I didn't watch it. I just stared out the window, the noise of the movie drawing my attention away. Paying attention to two different things helps me stay calm and think clearly. I know, its weird, but that's how I work. I stared out at the dark green trees and wished that Quil would just jump out from them and through the window of the room.
Of course, I didn't believe he would but I just kept hoping he would because that would be the only thing that would stop my heart from racing and my stomach from turning over every time a nasty thought of Quil unconscious, covered in blood. That one clear memory of when I was here was of Quil, my soul mate, looking like he was dead in the woods. That was not helping me now, at all, especially since it was a vampire that did that to him. He has Jacob and Embry with him now, which eases my fears a little more, but not much.
I forced myself to think back to the fun times I had with Quil, the ones I saw from photos and family videos, the only ones that were clear because they are saved forever. It's kind of hard to panic when you're thinking about your younger self pelting three grown men with rocks and them acting like they are actually hurt. I think Quil sold it the best, then again Seth had Willa crawling on him and Embry had Dana jumping on him from behind. It's hard to act under those circumstances.
I could think about all of those movies and pictures for hours, but that wouldn't change the fact that I missed Quil. Or that I had to cry myself to sleep because I was so scared.
AN: Review!