"Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much."

Oscar Wilde

Red didn't even protest as I dragged her to the cabin, half-carrying her across the damp ground.

In another frame of mind entirely, I picked her up at the waist, depositing her on the illicit countertop. "You should ice those," I said, nodding at her wrist. I was already tugging the old faded ice trays from the freezer before she could agree or protest, shaking cubes into a plastic baggie.

Red took the ice from me, wrapping it up in a dish cloth she stole off the counter. She held it between her wrists absently, swinging her legs in the silence.

"I just really hate him you know?" I blurted out, shaking my head hard, as I leaned against the sink. "I really hate him. All the time I nagged you about hating everything, and there is just no way you could possibly hate anyone the way I hate my own father. I want to kill him sometimes. Sometimes...it's not even just...it's not like other kids saying they want to kill their parents. There have been actual situations in which I really could have killed him."

She reached out, snatching my hand into hers. "I'm alright Sam," she said, and it might have sounded selfish and self-centered to anyone else but it was exactly what I needed to hear. "He didn't really hurt me. I did way more damage."

"You know, if it weren't for all the supernatural shit in your life, I'd never doubt you could take care of yourself," I told her, feeling a tired smile curve up at my lips. "When it comes to human shit, you kick ass. Don't ever doubt that."

"It wasn't always like that," she said with a far away look. "It's really just a frame of mind. I just...tell myself I don't have to be helpless, and I then I do my best not to be. But Sam...this thing with your dad..."

"I know," I breathed out, letting my fingers lace with hers. I'd take her pity-filled comfort with a smile on my face. She was touching me and, hell, I was a man with simple needs. All I really wanted was her here with me.

"I don't think you're wrong," she replied, squeezing my hand in hers. "I think that Josh is an asshole, I really do. But he brings out the worst in you Sam, and you can't let him do that. I know that you believe in second chances and finding the good in people. I know you're patient, if not demanding. You can't forget all that just because Josh fucks with your head. You have to give him his second chance because you're a good man. You're a better man than him. You're going to listen to what he has to say tomorrow and you're going to let him work for it. I'm not saying you should go easy on him, not by any means. But I am saying you should give him a chance. It's nothing you wouldn't give anyone else."

"I can't forgive him," I replied, looking down at our joined hands. "There's too much between us."

"Then don't," she said easily, brushing her thumb down mine. Her nails were still blue, the polish chipped in places. "I don't think you're acting out of order as a son. You have every right to be mad at your father for all the shit he's pulled. But as chief? You're bigger than that. Don't give him any reason to call you out tomorrow. He might push you, especially if he feels threatened. Be the strong, compassionate chief your people love."

Stepping between her legs I hugged her, if only because I thought I looked pathetic enough to get away from it. She curled up under my arms, pressing her cheek against my chest. "Thank you," I muttered, propping my chin up on her head. "I don't know what it is...I just..."

"I remember last time. I don't want you to disappear again," " she murmured in a small voice, breath fanning cool over my skin.

I woke up at noon the following day, flailing at my silent alarm clock. In a panic, I was up out of bed, late for work, late for patrol's, not to mention I had a Council meeting to organize. Rushing up, I ran smack into the door jam before getting my ass together. I was already scrambling for my phone when I saw the note on the counter.

Sam,

I called in to work for you today and explained to them you had chief duties. They have someone covering for you. Paul and Leah are covering your patrol runs til six tonight. I got a hold of Billy and explained to him the Josh situation, and he said he'd get the meeting together. Did your laundry too, so you'd have something clean to wear. Lunch is in the fridge. You just looked like you needed the sleep. Call Billy.

-Red

Her blankets were folded neatly at the end of the couch but the living room still smelled like her. Looking out my kitchen window, I could see Josh moving around nervously in the kitchen, on my mother's phone. If he bolted, refusing Council, he'd never be welcomed back. I didn't believe him stupid enough to take that route, but he'd disappointed me before.

Tucking the letter away with the last one, I couldn't help the smile on my face. She'd gone out of her way to make today easy on me, taking care of any stress I might have had. As I stepped back into the kitchen, the phone rang.

"Sam Uley speaking," I answered, more on work-default than anything else.

"Hey kid, it's Billy," Billy said, like I wouldn't recognize his voice. "Bella called me this morning, gave me the run down. How is it that your daddy doesn't know you're chief? Bella told me not to tell him."

"He's a douche bag," I said with no shame. "Red's really running this ship, huh?"

"She's certainly got a pair on her, I'll tell you that. But I just wanted to let you know the council is meeting in an hour. You know how it's going to go down?"

"The law Red invoked is pretty simple," I replied, scratching at the stubble on my chin. I'd have just enough time to shower and shave.

Billy chuckled on the other end. "Does she even know she can do that? I can't believe she did it."

"She might have read it in one of those journals," I said, inwardly sighing. Those journals would be the death of me. "Josh might question it though, how she's a member of the pack. I don't...this isn't how I want her to find out, you know?"

"If he brings it up, just make it clearherclaim to the Tribe is not in question,"he suggested.

"I wouldn't have even thought about trying him. I just...I don't know. I haven't had a chance to talk to Embry about it. I don't want to put him on the spot like that."

"Bella took care of that too," Billy replied with obvious surprise. "I saw her talking to him on his momma's front porch this morning. He ain't said anything about it, so I'm guessing he's okay with it. Michelle Call is going to be at the meeting. I've already spoke to Josh. Ain't a thing you gotta do, Sam. Bella took care of it all."

"She just thought of everything, didn't she?" I asked, almost to myself.

"That she did Sam,"Billy replied anyway."You go on and get ready. See ya soon."

The meeting was made public, as all full-council Tribe related meetings generally were. This wasn't just a simple matter for the Elders to oversee. When Old Laws were invoked, they were treated with absolute ceremony. The cheap aluminum walls of the pole-barn that served as our Council Hall echoed with the voices of those attending, no less than half the tribe in total. The entire building had been shoved full of various folding chairs in varying stages of questionable strength. I could see my mother, eyes bright as she held her head up high, an epitome of strength. For all that she could be blinded when it came to Josh, she wouldn't spite me for this. If anything, she wanted Josh to grow up twice as badly as anyone else; if not for her, for the girls.

To my surprise, Red was there, though perhaps I shouldn't have been so shocked. This was all her doing, though hardly anyone knew that, yet. Beside my mother, she was seated with the Calls, pale hand curled over Embry's in silent support. He was poker-faced where he sat, entirely too emotionless for my liking.

All of this I took in from where I remained hidden in the little room behind the front of the hall. I hadn't been there for the set-up, but I could see the bright red altar linens laid out across the raised platform at the room, and smell the stomach-churning scent of burning sage and rosemary. I felt my muscles twitch in surprise as something cold and thick was smeared in lines across my chest. "Shit," I hissed, cringing back slightly.

"Quit being a bitch," Jake muttered, eying the book on the table for reference as he painted whatever symbols it called for over my collar bone, in blood-red paint. "I could have let Old Mrs. Ateara do this, and you know how handsy she gets. At least you get to wear jeans; dad said they use to wear pants made out of deer skin. I bet one of the old Mothers makes you a pair by the end of the week for the next council meeting too."

"I feel like I'm going to puke," I told him in reply. As my second in the Pack, it wasn't hard to appoint him as my second in the tribe. Indeed, as he had stepped down from ever taking his place as chief, it was an easy role for him to fill and one that pleased the Elders.

He wiped his hands off on a rag and declared me done. "This was a long time coming, Sam. I mean, who knows how it's going to turn out, it is Josh after all, but at least it can be said he never faced his faults. You're doing him a favor, forcing him to take account of all the wrongs he's done."

"I was just going to kill him," I informed him blithely. "This is all Red."

His hand paused where it was wiping grime from his knuckles, voice falling to a hush. "Would you really have killed him?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Probably not; not with Red there. But with everything going on, with the vampire...it would have been easy to let myself forget myself."

"Well, then thank the Gods for Red, I suppose," he replied, eyes falling to the clock hanging on the wall. "We're going to catch the leech, Sam. You know that right?"

The rest of the Elders and Council were making their way toward the platform, their bare feet sounding hollow against the wood of the ramp. Instantly the loud murmur of the crowd instantly died down to that of a whisper.

"Yeah," I said tiredly, shaking my head sighing deeply. "Alright. Go get your dad on the damn platform, I want to get this shit over with."

The look on my father's face when I stepped up to the platform last, marked as chief and taking my place at the center was priceless. Sitting cross-legged on the blessed-cloth, I kept my back straight and my chin up. Old Quil raised his crabbed hand, one boney finger pointing where Josh stood between the crowd and the platform.

"Kneel, ciye'sukakuh," he instructed Joshua, giving a pointed glance to the rough wool blanket folded carelessly for Josh. Wandering Brother, he had called him; it was certainly appropriate.

He hesitated, eyes locked on mine with no hidden shock. There was shame in kneeling before one's son, so the old tales went. That wasn't my problem. His own actions had brought him here, and if he truly wanted back, he'd do as instructed. Kneeling before me should have been the least of his shames.

"Joshua Levi Uley," Billy's voice boomed across the hall. "Do you deny your chief?"

Josh didn't hesitate to answer. "I was under the impression you were my chief, Elder Brother Black."

I caught my mother's eye and knew in that moment that she hadn't told him because being chief was mine. Josh had no part in it, unlike so much of my life. He didn't deserve to know.

Billy's smile was full of teeth, sharp and cutting. He and Josh had been friends once, so long ago that I had never been blessed with witnessing it. If Josh expected softer treatment from Billy, it wouldn't have happened anyway. "That's right, you missed your son's introduction ceremony."

Surly as ever, Josh's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't invited."

"No," Billy replied lightly, leaning back in his wheel chair. "You weren't, were you? Kneel before your new chief, Joshua."

Sinking down to his knees with no small disinclination, Josh lifted his chin defiantly. I ignored it, not bothering to even meet his eye. I was chief here, not son; I needed to remember that.

"Joshua Levi Uley, you've been accused of kwo'okilcha,abandonment and betrayal of your people, as invoked by Isabella Marie Swan. Do you understand this law?" I asked, in a crisp clear tone, which would have brokered no argument with anyone but Josh Uley.

"Yes," Josh replied, hands clasped behind his back. "Kwo'okilchais a three-part law of admittance, acceptance, and redemption. From my understanding, to be valid it has to be invoked by a member of the Tribe."

"Isabella Swan was welcomed into the tribe during the summer solstice, under official ceremony, as honorary Quileute sister. I marked her myself, under the eyes of all Elders present-"

"You can't just mark your girlfriend Quileute and call it official, Sa-"

Old Quil slapped his palm hard on the platform, a dull thud just loud enough to silence my father. "Do not question your chief, Joshua. As you are, the Swan holds more rank in this Tribe than you. Be warned, ciye'sukakuh."

Feeling impossibly young, I bit at the insides of my cheek and kept my anger in check. I couldn't let him push me around so easily. There was no need to explain myself, Billy had said as much. I should have said what Billy suggested, but I couldn't help the desperate need in me to prove myself to my father. I hated it.

"Admit your wrongs before your Tribe," I said, keeping my voice strong and even. "So that you may be judged before all, Gods and Quileute alike. Make it good, Joshua Uley."

Sucking in a breath, Josh shook his head with a surprising lack of remark or fight. "I'm ready," he said instead, head dropping so that his chin was tucked to his chest, suggested by the Old Rites, as an act of subservience. "I am guilty of abandonment and betrayal not only of my people, but of my children and family. Both claimed..." he swallowed hard, chin bobbing. "Both claimed and unclaimed. I'm guilty of greed. I'm guilty of dishonor. I'm guilty of lying. I'm guilty of misleading a woman I loved and should have loved better. I'm guilty of stealing the virtue of another woman and leaving her without even a promise, but with a child" I watched my mother take Michelle Call's hand into her own, gripping it tightly. "I'm guilty of cheating on many accounts. I'm guilty of not preparing my son...my sons for their future, as a father should." This time, I watched Red take Embry's hand, laying her head on his shoulder. He acknowledged her with a nudge of his chin, and it was such a wolf-like gesture, I nearly smiled.

Joshua sucked in another breath, and lifted his eyes to me. I let him this time, searching for the lie. "I've wronged a lot of people," he said solemnly. "Too many to list. But I'm sorry. I've always been sorry, but sorry never really...who needs sorry? What good is an apology? If an apology matters, I want it known that I'm so sorry. I'm the sorriest son of a bitch you'll ever meet. I'm sorry for it all, but I'm mostly sorry that I let another man shoulder my burdens. That I let my eldest son shoulder my responsibilities. I'm a failure as a husband, a father, and a Quileute, but I want the chance to do better."

He certainly looked sorry, but I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to spend another second looking at him. But...Inadvertently, my eyes drifted to Red, who gave me a soft smile and a short nod. Drawing my bottom lip between my teeth I nodded to the crowd. "The Council will decide."

The council was made up of eleven tribe members, including myself. They started at the end, each raising their hand, thumb up or thumb up down. I would go last, as to prevent the Council making their decision in my favor. To my surprise, Billy, Old Quil and Harry all voted down, and they weren't alone. By the time the Council had finished raising their hands and it was my turn, it was a draw.

It really came down to my decision.

"Joshua Uley," I said carefully, holding up a closed fist. "Will you respect the decision of your Council, your tribe?" I paused, feeling my gaze harden. "Your chief?"

The defeat in my fathers face was visible as he nodded, eyes fluttering to a close. "I will...Chief Uley."

"Accept your Tribe's forgiveness instead," I breathed, raising my thumb. "What will you do now?"

Josh looked startled, his surprise echoing across the Council hall. "I...I wish to know my sons and daughters," he choked. The emotion in his face did not soften me to him, but it was nice to see. I'd never like the man, but...Embry had been right. I wanted better for my sisters. They didn't need to know my hate.

"And if they don't want to know you?" I asked, leaning forward slightly. "Some damage cannot be repaired."

"A man can still try."

Smiling tightly, I nodded. "Then try. Try to be a better man, a better father." I left out husband; I'd never be okay with that. Truth be told, I wasn't really okay with any of it, but I could be as Red had said, I could be a better man too. "Try to be a better Quileute. For everything you've taken, give back three-fold. Make your reparations and mean them, but know that you are forever a marked man. May the Gods be so forgiving, Joshua."

Josh blew out a long breath and surprised the Tribe when he spoke again. "If they're half as forgiving as my eldest son, I'm a very lucky man."

I nodded, and winced when Billy elbowed me sharply in the ribs. "Sam," he warned and I sighed.

"Go with peace," I said, begrudgingly, finishing the meeting, "Elder Uley."

tbc