Future-take from my drabbles "Right Here" & "Right Now"—which I'm just going to call the Here & Now drabble series from now on when I dabble in drabbles for it. Chapter 25 of this omnibus was "Right Here". "Right Now" is exclusive to Tricky Raven for the time being because it is an update told in screen shots of a text conversation between two phones. You can check it out on Tricky Raven under the drabbles group, Week #11. Eventually, I imagine I may start a series for them here on FFn or FictionPad—after I have Part III finished. ;)

Pairing: Bella(/Embry) & Sam

Rating: M, for language

Genre: Friendship/Family

Word Count: 783

Prompt: "You've helped make me who I am."

- o - o - o -

Where Wildflowers Bloom

- o - o - o -

What are they doing? Jared asked in the collective consciousness.

Just talking. It's something they've done since Sam first welcomed her to the pack, long before we realized she was my mate. He worried about her, so he wanted her to feel like she always had someone to talk to—like the rest of us—a brother, Embry explained, laying his head on his paws.

- o - o - o -

"So you guys are really moving back? For good?" Sam asked, swatting a wildflower that tickled his ear.

Bella loved the little meadow behind the Ateara place where she and Sam lay side by side in the tall grass. She and Quil often played there together as kids when her gran had them both for a visit on a Saturday afternoon. She and Embry had inherited the old house when Old Quil passed on earlier that year.

Sam handed her flowers, picking them automatically for her out of habit as she wove a chain of daisies, dandelions, and buttercups.

"Yup, the clinic doctor was practically drooling when he got notice that I was moving back. He's been looking to retire, but his replacement had to be in on the secret. I think he's been holding out for me all this time."

Sam snickered, "I know he has. Old Quil gave him a blistering lecture about putting off his own pleasure for a few years for the sake of serving his tribe. Then Billy bribed him with an extra two weeks of vacation for the last five years and that was the end of any retirement talk for a while. Old Doc Tattersall's ready to erect a bronze statue in honor of your return. The fact that he's getting a trained ER doctor in you and Embry is returning to open a pediatric practice in Forks is just icing on his retirement cake."

The thought of her husband spending his days drying tears, wiping sniffly noses, and passing out lollipops made her smile—not that she hadn't expected him to go into pediatrics. He was a wonderful, doting father and uncle to their boys and Sam and Emily's kids.

"Now that we're moving back, do you think we can convince any of the others to go finish their degrees?"

"Quil is in no hurry. He loves being a wolf and helping his mom with the store. When he meets his imprint, who knows?" he shrugged, then looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Jake… I know he doesn't want to make a fuss, but … it's not like you won't find out soon anyway…"

"What?!" she flipped up on her side, leaning on her fist as she laid the wildflower chain over Sam's chest like a pageant sash, giggling at his grimace.

"He's been taking courses online when he could and a few night classes in PA when Hazel's brothers were around to help out around the clock with the twins. He filled out the paperwork and they mailed him everything, diploma and all. Jake's a teacher."

Bella gasped, "Get the fuck out!"

"Math, Science, and Shop at the rez school. You know all the teachers have to pull double-duty. Jake figures he's got time, so he got certified for all three. He starts subbing in two weeks and he'll be full time in the fall."

"Wow… He never said a word! We need to throw a party or something."

"Yup. Anyway, I think Paul's next."

"What's he studying?"

"Early childhood education and child psychology."

Bella laughed, "No shit?"

"You started it. You and Embry had him babysitting up in Seattle every other weekend and before he knew it, he was watching all the pack kids back home when he was here. Little Jay won't even let Kim kiss his booboos. He demands Uncle Paul do it."

A startled laugh burbled up in Bella's throat at the mental image of Paul kissing booboos. Not that her boys hadn't been every bit as enamored of their Uncle Paul. He gave them their first couch fort building kit and was the first one to play 'the floor is lava' in their tiny two bedroom apartment in the city. The broken lamp was worth the memories her boys would have.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes a pediatric psychiatrist. The kids all go to him first with their problems, big and small."

"Like the rest of us do with you," Bella murmured, laying a hand on his arm. "It wouldn't have been possible without you, Sam, for any of us. Since the day you pulled me, silent and heartbroken from the woods, you've helped make me who I am, and all the rest of them, too. We owe you … everything."

- o - o - o -

So, what do you think of the future for Right Here and Right Now's Embry, Bella, Jake, and Sam?