AN: Just a short chapter for today. I'll update again tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, sorry I haven't been able to reply to all of you.

I don't own twilight, characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

CHAPTER 8

JPOV

"That was amazing; we should do it more often. Is this how humans feel when they're drunk?" The Major was babbling at me, we had just finished our first meditation session together. "I wish I had your power, Jasper, that was incredible. I feel soooo gooood." He was drawing out words, I giggled at him. Pete and Char smiled "how'd he enjoying J?" Peter asked. I smirked at him "the Major's babbling." The Major whined "I don't babble, stop being a buzz kill."
"Yes, Major."
"And Jasper? We're sooo doing that again." He giggled at me. I let out a full belly laugh, I'd never imagined the Major stoned. He started singing bawdy songs so I decided it was time for a distraction. I headed to the library, Peter followed us and threw a book at me. "You need some variety brother, I'm sick of you scowling at the inaccuracies in my history books. I shrugged and got to reading.

BPOV

A FEW DAYS EARLIER IN LA PUSH

I decided it was time to give up high school. Life was too busy as the moment, there was so much to do on the Res and I couldn't concentrate in class. Sue arrived to start dinner. "Where's Leah?" I asked, I hadn't seen her in a few days, Sue looked like she'd barely slept. "She's turning" tears welled up in her eyes, I hugged her "hey, you should be with her, don't worry about dinner, I have it under control. You look like you could use some sleep."
"Thanks Bells, but I need the distraction." We got to work and fell into our usual rhythm. While dinner was cooking in the oven I decided to speak up "I'm thinking of dropping out of school." She looked surprised and was quiet for a while. As the silence started to turn awkward Sue broke it "that's probably a good idea. From what I've heard from the Elders you have an eternity to complete high school. As much as I don't want you to stop your education a selfish part of me wants you to keep doing what you're doing. You've brought such a change to our community, many parents couldn't afford to feed their kids when they became wolves and the community dinners have brought us all closer. Everyone is happier with you here." I blinked back a few tears and smiled. "It was the least we could do, you've all accepted me, protected me and the people of Forks, I'll never be able to fully show my gratitude for that."

As Sue hugged me a few stray tears slipped out. She was like another mom, thankfully not like Renee, she was more like a stronger version of Esme. My heart hurt to think of Esme, but I pushed it back. The Cullens made their choice and it wasn't my responsibility to force them to change, where would I even start? What could a human like me do? Sue let me go and smiled "you still think of them don't you?" I knew she was talking about the Cullens. "Sometimes, but I'm getting better." I said. "Will you tell me about them?" She asked. I was surprised. "Are you sure? They are Vampires."
"They were also your family" I scoffed, but she continued "besides, you could use someone to talk to. I know your dad's been there and helped you a lot, but there are somethings that are easier to discuss with a woman." I shrugged and started telling her about what I'd realized. Part of me felt like I was betraying them by speaking so negatively, but there was also relief.

"You mean that poor woman, Esme, stays home; cooking and cleaning? Does she have any hobbies?"
"She loves gardening and decorating."
"But she never goes out to meet other women? Does she have any friends?"
"No, she's a vampire."
"So are Carlisle and the kids, but they work and go to school. Why can't she have a life outside the house? She could have started an interior decorating company or studied, hell she could have taken up knitting." I couldn't refute that, she made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat.

"Some of those kids sound like spoilt brats-" She said when I told her about the others. I tried to explain their lifestyle. "Well, they have been alive a lot longer than they seem, and they can afford to be extravagant. Alice watches the stock market so she contributes to their wealth." Sue scoffed again "her and your ex sound insufferable. What about the other kids?"
"Rose hates me and kept out of my way. Emmett was like a big brother, but he was mated to Rose so when she left he followed." Sue shook her head "Jasper was nice, but I didn't get a chance to know him, they said he was too dangerous."
"That's bull Bells, he went to school with the rest of them, yes?" I nodded "sounds like his control is good enough. Anyway, your blood was irresistible to Edward and how did he get in control? By stalking you! I'm not saying Jasper should have stalked you, but keeping you away from him was absolute crap. Why not let him get used to your scent?" I shrugged as she kept ranting. "You know why? Because he was under Alice's control and you were under Edward's control. I don't like it Bells, something is off with that whole situation."
"I agree."
"Of course the poor boy was going to take a snap at you, you said he could feel emotions right?" I nodded. "Well shit, pardon my language, but he could probably feel everyone's low opinion of him. Vampire gifts drain their strength, right?" I nodded "so here's this poor guy standing in a room of people who treat him like dirt and expect him to slaughter the town at a moments notice, he can't switch off his gift and Alice seems like the type who'd boss him around, not giving him time to hunt. On top of that he struggles with his thirst because he was a human drinker when he joined the Cullens. Then when an accident happens, and there's a teeny bit of blood, he snaps! Of course he's going to snap." It was almost funny to see how riled up Sue had become about the Cullens, not to mention her defense of Jasper. I agreed with her completely. "I'd love to put Edward and Alice over my knee, I don't care how old they are..." she continued even as we arrived at the community hall and dished up food.

The Elders ate while eavesdropping on Sue's rant "... Carlisle calls himself a leader? Baloney! You wouldn't catch an alpha putting up with that shit..." I caught Billy's eyes and he started chuckling quietly and whispered "thanks, she's needed a distraction from Leah turning. How are you holding up?"
"Pretty good actually, Sue's been a huge help."
"So I see" he chuckled again and kept eating, Old Quil smiled at me too.

Emily and I headed to Oona's, the food we had put aside for Dad and Oona fogged up the windows. The ride was quiet, but pleasant. Emily was in a good mood. When we got into the more remote part of the Res I asked Em what was going on. She flushed and whispered "I'm pregnant" I gaped "that's brilliant! What did Sam say? How far along are you? Who else knows?"
"Sam's overjoyed, I'm about five weeks and so far only you, Sue, the Elders and Oona know. We haven't announced it yet, people recommend not announcing it until the three month mark, just in case." Her eyes dimmed. "It'll be okay Em, you're really healthy and Sam's got the wolf blood in him. I'm so happy for you!" The silence returned, both of us lost in happy thoughts. A new cub!

Oona smiled widely at us when we walked through the door. "Your father is doing extremely well." She ushered us into the small kitchenette/dining room and we dished up the food. Dad had started to look different after each day he studied with Oona. It was like he was more confident, it was a similar feeling that Sam gave off when he issued Alpha orders. I smiled at him "how're you doing, dad?"
"Good, there's so much to learn, but it's not tiring me as much anymore." They dug into their dinner as Emily and I updated them on what had been happening. "So you two go for your walk in the woods tomorrow?" Oona asked dad and I. "Yep and tomorrow night we finally get to shower and change clothes" I sighed in relief. I felt awful having to wear the same things all the time. Dad nodded "I just want it over with, once these leeches are gone we can relax." It was still odd hearing dad talk about vampires so casually.

Shortly after dinner we headed back home. It was the last night we'd have to sleep in these clothes. I was definitely going to burn them once Victoria and Laurent were gone.

Sue's words went through my mind as I drifted off. I felt so bad for Jasper, I hope he didn't blame himself for snapping. Somehow I doubted the rest of the Cullens had passed on my message to him; telling him I wasn't mad at him. Hopefully they weren't giving him a hard time about it. I fell into a restless sleep.

The morning light woke me up, it felt like I'd just fallen asleep. I practically fell out of the bed and sluggishly stumbled to the kitchen. Charlie had set up the coffee pot before heading to work, best dad ever. This would be his last day at work and he'd by home by lunchtime for our afternoon the walk into the woods. There was a knock on the door, "morning Bells!" Seth was far too cheerful for this hour of the day. I mumbled "morning" to him and guided him to the kitchen. We were going to discuss which route we'd take on our walk, he was given the responsibility of leading us as the child of an Elder. He wasn't a wolf like his sister . "How's Leah doing?"
"She's upset, but physically she's fine. She phased for the first time a few days ago. She has really pale grey fur in her wolf form."
"Really? I thought all the wolves were black or brown."
"Nah. I haven't seen all of them, but I've heard there are darker grey wolves and some with red fur."
"That's pretty cool. Why is Leah upset?"
"Sam's the alpha, they used to date, but he imprinted on Emily and they had to break up."
"That's rough."
"Yeah, it doesn't help that she's the first ever female wolf as well."
"Really? No wonder she's upset."

We spent a few hours chatting while looking over the map. Charlie walked in looking as tired as I felt. He waved and move to the bedroom to remove his uniform, it fit terribly over the clothes he'd been wearing for a week. He grabbed the back pack with our fresh change of clothes and the 'scent off' spray. I made a few sandwiches, got some bottles of water from the fridge and we set off. It was a clear and sunny day, we sweated through the layers of clothing we had on, I couldn't wait to change. An hour later we were deep in the woods, Seth stopped and pointed me to a bushy area "you can change over there if you'd like" before he'd even finished I grabbed the bag off dad and sprinted behind the bush. It was such a relief to be out of those clothes. I walked back over to the guys and took out the 'scent off' spray while handing the bag back to dad.

Seth began to spray me down for the trip back and did the same with dad when he returned. We had both chosen shorts and t-shirts. The walk back went faster, we walked quickly, desperate for the first shower in a week. I let dad go first, he'd be quicker than me and I'd be able to stay in longer. The fridge and pantry were looking bare so I called Emily and arranged to go grocery shopping. We could do pasta for dinner tonight and put on a few slow cookers worth of stew for tomorrow.

As soon as dad walked out in his clean clothes I rushed to the bathroom and threw off my clothes. Jumping in the shower after so long was an almost transcendental experience. I looked down, wondering what color the water had turned, it was still clear. I hadn't done much to get dirty in the last week. The water in the shower had started to cool after half an hour, I was shampooing for the third time so I quickly rinsed off and conditioned. I felt so much better. Dad took the cruiser and headed to Oona's and I walked next door to meet up with Emily. The day passed very quickly and before long it was bedtime again.

Despite the long hike and little sleep the night before it was a struggle getting to sleep. I sat up reading and before I knew it was morning. I lay in bed for another few hours; the wolves would be out all day and were skipping lunch to stay in the woods and wait for the vampires.

By 11am I'd gotten all the sleep I could and shuffled out of bed. Dad was still in his pajamas and reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee, I waved and grabbed myself a cup.

By 3pm I was at Emily's making fresh bread rolls and peeling potatoes for the stew. Emily and I decided to make a cake in celebration for when the pack returned. We started out with a large circular tin and a square tin and filled them with four cakes worth of batter. As soon as it was cooked and cooled down we shaped, then iced it. Emily went to her pantry and pulled out a chocolate bar, taking it out of its wrapper and plunging it into the middle of the cake. We started laughing. There was a knock on the door and Dad walked in, he burst out laughing as soon as he saw the cake. It was in the shape of a stereotypical vampire, white icing for the face and black icing for the hair and cape, we'd piped more black icing in the shape of x's for eyes and the chocolate bar looked like a stake through the heart.

"Do you girls need any help?"
"Can you peel the rest of the potatoes, dad?" He got to work and before long it was time to leave for the town hall. The hall was packed when we arrived, many families brought extra food. Tonight had turned into an impromptu feast. Oona sat at the table of elders between Billy and Harry, she waved us over. We quickly hid the cake in the fridge, we'd unveil it when the pack arrived. A few ladies walked in with cheese cakes, trifles and ice-cream slices, we were able to stock up the fridge and keep the cake secret.

Oona winked at us and I looked to dad who grinned sheepishly. When everyone had gotten a plate of food, Emily and dad brought out the rest of the stew, mashed potatoes and bread rolls for when the pack arrived. Just as they sat down the wolves walked in, smiling and joking with each other. Thunderous applause echoed through the hall, the pack were greeted like rock stars. They made a beeline for the food and heaped their plates as high as they'd go. I looked over each of them, a few had scratches but were healing quickly. There had been no major injuries and all wolves we present and accounted for. I caught Emily checking them as well, she turned and smiled at me. They joined us at the table of elders and practically inhaled their food.

All too soon the plates were emptied. Emily, Charlie, Sue and I started bringing out the deserts, saving out cake for last. Sue was bent over with laughter as she followed us out with the cake. A cheer went up when we unveiled it, the wolf pack stood up and applauded. I blushed heavily and people started serving themselves, there was a fight over the chocolate bar 'stake,' but Sam got it in the end. The celebration lasted long into the night. We finally arrived home in the early hours of the morning, Oona would be staying at our house tonight. Charlie snored on the couch and Oona was passed out in his room. I sent a quick email to Peter.

Thank you for being there and helping the pack take them down. I hope you're both safe and well.

Goodnight Peter and Charlotte.

I fell asleep smiling, Victoria and Laurent were dead. My wolves, my tribe, my father and I were safe.