Pairing: Paul/OC & His Almost Imprint
Rating: M, for theme (death/loss)
Genre: Drama
Origin: Tricky Raven's Weekly Drabble Challenge, Prompt #12
"Here & Now" flashfic series: This drabble happens 2 years after "Where Wildflowers Bloom".
A/N: Just a heads up about the flashfics in the "Here & Now" series - this will be the last of the Here & Now flashfics I post under this omnibus. This particular omni is for unrelated short stories and all the "Here & Now" flashfics no longer qualify. They will share the same canon and timeline, so I started a separate group for them on Tricky Raven under the name "Here & Now" because Tricky Raven allows more flexibility to write a story out of order based on writing prompts and using more innovative storytelling techniques. The flashfics are neatly ordered in a table of contents under the group on Tricky Raven and I have the ability to continue to tell parts of the story through screen shots of text conversations like I tried with "Right Now", the follow-up to "Right Here". There is also a kind of glossary of OCs available on Tricky Raven. If my readers really want a version of that group here on FFn, I'll try to make that happen somehow, but I'll warn you now that FFn does not allow for as much innovation in the style of storytelling, so the really cool stuff won't look quite as cool when I post the text-only version here. ;) Let me know in the comments if you'd like a version of the "Here & Now" series posted here on FFn. If there's enough interest, I can be convinced to find a way to make the text available on FFn or even FictionPad, at the very least.
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What Never Was
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Paul walked onto the small tribal burial grounds in the heart of the reservation carrying a large bouquet of black-eyed susans tied with a bright yellow ribbon. Jake had once said that the flowers running riot behind their house reminded him of his mom and … her.
So he cut a big bunch and tied them with the ribbon to tidy up their stems—like putting a bow on a present. It seemed the thing to do when bringing an offering of peace and love to the dead.
He traversed the rows and familial groupings of burial markers easily with the grace inborn in all his kind, seeking the one near the center of the tribal grounds, a place reserved for those who embodied the tribe's legends in life.
Unconsciously, he circled, matting down the grasses beside the grave in the way of his wolf before settling down to bare his heart to this, the woman whose soul and life he was meant to share, taken before her time, before they ever had the chance to find one another.
Still, her impact on his life had been monumental, and for that he would pay his respects. He started with his usual greetings, a prayer for her, and a low, mournful whine of lamentation from his wolf before he got to the heart of the matter and the reason for his visit that day.
"It's not like you and I were ever anything to each other but a possibility. Still, if you hadn't…" He shook his head. "No, not that. I'm sorry your brother had to lose you so soon after losing your mom—his mom, but I will be forever grateful to you for the gift your passing has given me. It woke me up—even though my wolf ran crazed and feral for a month mourning an imprint he never got to experience through you and me.
"At the end of all that, Bella charged in, guns blazing, ready to rally the pack around me to show me and my wolf that I was loved and wanted and had a purpose beyond an imprint that never existed in the first place. She became my family, my first sister. She held my hand and petted my wolf and gave him permission to mourn even though I was confused and lost. You brought my sister to me, the first family I've ever really known.
"You gave me a family. It's like, I had no idea I was ever meant to be an uncle, but I couldn't imagine my life any other way. Then I met Celeste, my heart. She's everything. She's this little French-Cajun firecracker—a friend of Bella's and Hazel's from when they were kids. You'd love her as much as I do. And she's a mom. The time I spend with her and her— our daughter, it's a gift. I'm going to marry her in a few days. I don't want to miss a single moment of the time I could have with my girls. Like the kids, I've learned to live in the moment and for the moment and to make the most of every precious second I have with them and the rest of the pack. You've helped make me who I am today, Rachel, and I will always love you for that."
He tensed, then relaxed when a dainty hand alighted on his shoulder. His tiny blonde mate folded her legs and leaned into his side, baring her neck to show him his mark on her throat—a silent display of her love and understanding for the man, and a reminder to the wolf that his pain was hers as well, "You miss her, cher?"
"My wolf does. Always will." Paul knew the wolf would return to the burial grounds on his own when he phased next and lay for a time by Rachel's side. It was his way.
"She's worthy of his devotion," she said quietly without a hint of jealousy for the woman the wolf mourned in his heart. "She brought you to us, says Isa. Her final gift was to our family. It was you."
*You didn't expect me to give you some sort of normal imprinting relationship, did you? ;) What did you all think of the heart of the reason behind Paul's dramatic turnaround into the pack's fluffiest babysitter? His wolf's grief over the death of the imprint he never got to meet to imprint on is especially humbling to me. Poor puppy. :(
Does "Where Wildflowers Bloom" become all the more poignant knowing what you know now?