"I'm having a hard time dad. I can't touch Emily. I can't heal her. My emotions are out of whack because of it. And now your not here to talk me through what to do." Paige said to the headstone in front of her. She was sitting in her backyard under a big old oak tree where Toby and Caleb had laid Nick to rest.
"It isn't fair, is it?" Caleb said as he took a seat beside Paige.
"It really isn't." Paige said.
"He took both of my parents away from me. I'm sure he ruined a lot of families. But if I hadn't been sent away to a foster family, I would never have met Hanna." Caleb said, looking at the carved letters of Nick's stone. "Your father was a great man Paige. He gave up so much so that you could keep your mother in your life. Just don't forget that. Now let's go. Emily is getting released today and I think she would kill me if I didn't have you at the hospital. Two weeks really made her restless." Caleb stood and held his hand out for Paige to take, pulling the girl up off the log.
"I can't even do anything to help her Caleb." Paige said, defeated. Two weeks without physical contact with her mate had really worn down Paige's emotions. "I can't go there and watch her be in pain and not help!"
"Paige. Come on. You know she will be more pissed if you don't show up. And she is always in a better mood with you just in the room. A few more weeks and she will be good as new."
"I don't know if I can wait a few more weeks Caleb. I need to feel her. Touch her. I don't know what is wrong with me." Paige said as they got into Spencer's SUV.
"It's just your connection Paige. We work better when we can feel our mates pulse and heartbeat." Caleb said. After a few minutes they arrive at the hospital and are standing outside of Emily's room. "It's a few more weeks Paige."
"Hey you." Emily said when she saw Paige come through the door.
"Hi." Paige said with a smile towards Emily.
"Ok, so we're good to go as soon as we get Miss Fields in this wheelchair. Her ribs will still give her some discomfort, so we have to move carefully." The doctor said as he entered the room. Paige stepped back into the corner to watch, afraid she would reach out and touch Emily. "On three we will lift you out of the bed."
When the doctor and nurse began to move Emily, the look of discomfort covered her face. Paige, from her spot in the corner, let out a loud whimper, being able to feel what Emily felt. Her body acted on its own, lurching forward after another whimper to get to Emily. Caleb put himself in front of Paige and he'd her back.
"Do we need to leave the room?" Caleb asked. Paige whimpered again as a response, eyes never leaving Emily's.
"Paige, I'm ok." Emily said, between ragged breathes after she was sitting in the wheelchair.
"Ok." Paige said as she tried to make herself relax. "I'm good." Caleb backed off of her.
"Paige, will you push me to the car?" Emily asked, seeing how upset Paige was. "I'm ok babe. Really. I'm just a little sore." Emily said to Paige after they were further along than everybody in the hallway.
"It's so hard for me Em." Paige said lowly.
"I know. But your mom said to give it another week or two and you can heal me. We can't risk anything suspicious." Emily said, wanting nothing more than to reach out for Paige's hand.
"I know. I've just been missing you." Paige admitted.
"I miss you too Paige, believe me." Emily said, getting a laugh out of the other girl.
They decided that it would be best for Emily if she stayed at her own home while recovering. Since she was going to be down for at least another week and a half, her mother would be able to take care of her. So Caleb and Toby made work of getting the girl moved into the back room of the lower level of the house, her father made it into a make shift bedroom for Emily. Spencer kept Paige outside, on Emily's request, until they had her comfortable. Paige still felt for Emily, whimpering at her discomfort. When they us her settled, Caleb and Toby came out to get her and left with Spencer.
"You girls need anything?" Pam asked from the doorway, watching as Paige stood in the corner of the room.
"Maybe a glass of water and one of my pain pills mom." Emily said, Paige jumping to go get it, leaving the Fields woman standing.
"That girl." Pam said with a small laugh.
"I'm worried about her, mom. She looks like she hasn't slept in days. She won't stay in the same room as me for more than five minutes." Emily said, fiddling with her fingers.
"It's just hard on her Em. She is feeling every pain you are, and for the first time can do nothing about it." Pam said, sitting on the bed and taking one of Emily's hands in hers. "But I don't think she has slept since you got hurt."
"She needs rest too." Emily said.
"I can't sleep without you." Paige said from her spot at the door, having heard the two woman's conversation. "And I can't be in a room with you longer than that, because of my need and want to make you better."
"Paige, what do you think I did before you when I got sick or was hurt? I've broken an arm before, I still healed fine. I just want you to sit with me while I get better." Emily said as the girl gave Pam the pills and water.
"Take these Emily and relax. Maybe when they kick in Paige can sit with you longer." Pam said as she got up and left the room, pulling Paige along with her. "She is just like her father. Stubborn."
"I heard that!" Emily yelled from the other room.
"You need to relax, Paige. She only has a week and a half and the doctor will clear her. Then you can heal her." Pam said as she walked away from the girl.
"Decided to join me?" Emily asked with a smile on her face, as Paige came back into the room.
"This is our life." Paige said.
"What?" Emily asked.
"This is going to be the rest of our lives. Always fighting to keep you safe." Paige said.
"It will calm down Paige. We just had a lot thrown at us these past few months." Emily reassured the girl. "Think you can sit there until I fall asleep?"
"Yes." Paige said.
The next week and a half passed by excruciatingly slow for Paige. Emily was dealing with the loss of contact better than her mate, and opted to not have Paige heal her right away. She claimed that she felt well enough to go to the pool for a few hours and get in some slow laps while no one else was there, trying to make sure she could keep up with the girls at her first official practice back. She took Paige with her, and made sure the girl was sitting at the edge of the pool on the bleachers before she started her slow laps. She felt the tension in her body dissolving as she made her first turn, and picked up a little speed, pushing through a burst of pain. Feeling it too, Paige stood up and trained her eyes on the girl. When Emily came upon the next turn, a sharp pain shooting up her side caused her to pull her hands to her side, missing touching the wall to tell her to turn. Hitting her head off the side of the pool l, Paige lept in without a second thought, power in through the water to get to Emily, who had passed out face down in the water, blood slowly pooling by her head. Paige grabbed Emily the moment she reached her and could feel her body give into Emily. Her ribs cracked in the places Emily's had and her head split open where Emily's had been moments before. As a small amount of blood ran down Paige's face, she carried Emily out of the pool at the steps and layed her on the natatorium floor. Wiping the blood from Emily's face she saw that the cut had healed, and judging by the pain in Paige's side, so did the girls ribs.
"Excuse me, what the hell was that?" Paige heard a voice behind her yell. Turning her head Paige saw her old swim coach standing there.
"Coach I can exp…" Paige was cut off before she could finish her sentence.
"My office, now McCullers!" Coach Fuller said as she turned and headed to her office.
"Paige, what happened?" Emily asked as she came to.
"I'm sorry Emily. I just saw you hit the edge of the pool and I dove in. And then coach saw." Paige said as tears came to her eyes.
"Paige slow down. Coach saw what?" Emily asked as she placed a calming hand on Paige's cheek.
"I think she saw me heal you." Paige said. "We need to go to her office."
"It's ok Paige. We will just explain. It will be fine." Emily tried to calm Paige as they made their was to the coaches office. "Did you heal my ribs?" Emily asked as she turned her torso in directions that were uncomfortable before getting into the pool.
"I think I healed everything." Paige said, head hung low.
"It's ok Paige. I was going to ask you to do it when we got home anyway." Emily said, squeezing her hand before knocking on the office door.
"Come in." Coach said. "So is this the reason you quit swimming?"
"What did you see exactly?" Paige asked.
"Well one minute Emily was bleeding in my pool, then you were. Now neither of you have a scratch on you. So someone better explain what's going on, now." Coach said.
"I'm a werewolf." Paige said. "And it is why I quit swimming. It would not have been fair for me to keep swimming when I can go faster than a bullet in the pool. And I can heal Emily."
"Whoa. Wait. You can heal Emily?" Fuller asked.
"Yes." Paige said.
"Then why didn't you do it after she was shot?" Fuller asked.
"We didn't want it to look suspicious that I had broken ribs that were suddenly healed. I don't want someone to take Paige away from me because she has this gift." Emily said, holding onto Paige's hand tighter at the thought.
"Can you heal other people?" Fuller asked.
"Not really. I imprinted with Emily, so my body is connected just with hers." Paige explained.
"Well, I am glad that you didn't stay on the team and cheat. That was very admirable. I'm glad it wasn't for a dumb reason." Coach Fuller laughed. "Just keep my star swimmer healthy McCullers. That's all I ask."
"I plan on it, coach." Paige said.
"You two can go if there is nothing else." Fuller said. As the girls stood to leave she added. "Paige, why don't you at least come back and help train with me? Get these girls in season shape? It would look good on a college application."
"Really?" Paige asked.
"Yes. See you Monday at 3." Fuller said as the girls walked out of her office.
"Wow." Emily said, starting at the pool.
"Yea. Wow." Paige agreed.
"Too bad everyone didn't feel like that." Emily said. "Then maybe I wouldn't have had to spend the last four weeks in a bed."
"You're healed." Paige said.
"Yea, you did that." Emily said as she turned to face Paige.
"I can finally touch you." Paige said as she stepped closer to Emily and wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling the girl closer to her.
"I missed you." Emily said as she placed her hands on either side of Paige's face. "I can tell you haven't been sleeping well. Why don't we go home and just relax."
"I can think of something that would help me relax." Paige said, moving her face closer to Emily's, until they were just an inch apart.
"I meant actually sleeping." Emily said with a smirk as she leaned in to close the distance between the two of them, finally kissing Paige after four weeks. "Let's go home." Arriving home to Emily's, the two walked in hand and hand to see Pam and Wayne standing in the doorway.
"Your holding hands!" Pam said, looking between the two.
"Yea, Paige healed me." Emily said as she turned and smiled at Paige.
"Why? I thought you were going to heal on your own." Wayne asked. The girls went on to explain what happened at the natatorium and how coach found out and actually wanted to use Paige to help out. "That's great! Anything to make a college application look great."
"Yea." Paige said as she dropped Emily's hand and walked down the hallway to the stairs, climbing them to Emily's bedroom. The Fields all looked at each other and Emily made her way upstairs too.
"What was that?" Emily asked when she entered the room and found Paige standing, looking out the window.
"What?" Paige asked, never looking away from the window.
"You just shrunk away when dad mentioned college. You did it when coach brought it up too." Emily said. "What's going on?"
"I always thought that I would go away to a great college on a swimming scholarship." Paige said.
"You can still go to school Paige. We can find a way to pay for it." Emily said, stepping closer to Paige.
"It's not that, Em. I just….swimming was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Coach said that I had Olympic potential. And now, it wouldn't be fair. It was taken away from me. I don't know what I am going to do with my life." Paige rambled out.
"Hey, we still have plenty of time to figure that out." Emily said.
"Not that long. What do you want to go to school for?" Paige asked.
"English." Emily answered right away. "I want to teach English."
"And a backup plan?" Paige said.
"I was going to minor in some type of science." Emily whispered.
"Right. Everyone has plans of what they want to do. My gift, took my plans away." Paige said.
"What doctor want in the future Paige?" Emily asked.
"You." Paige answered.
"No like, what do you want?" Emily said. "Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere you are. You are all I think about twenty four seven. I don't care what I do with the rest of my life Em, as long as you are safe and healthy. But I can't just do nothing. We have to make these decisions before the end of this school year to start prepping. And I have no idea what I want now." Paige said.
"Why don't we lie down?" Emily said. "It's late, and you look very tired."
"Yea." Paige said through a yawn. Emily pulled her towards her bed and layed down, before pulling Paige on top of her. "I missed this."
"I missed this too." Emily said as she ran her fingers through Paige's hair, worried for the girl who was fast asleep above her. She knew that Paige had a lot on her mind. And she was afraid she wasn't dealing with the loss of her father on top of all her normal teenage troubles. She wondered how this would affect Paige's change, before sleep took her too.