TIMESKIP

Bella:

Harry Clearwater was dead. Two more wolves had phased- Leah and Seth. Victoria was still alive. I had been about to add my death to the list of things to grieve about. What a selfless, considerate person I was. Not. And for what? To hear voices inside my head? I was turning myself mad.

I leaned my head back against the couch, rubbing my cheek against the familiar leather. Charlie hadn't bothered to even ask why my hair was wet and I looked such a state. If he was so hung up, I could only imagine what Sue and the kids were feeling.

The thought disturbed me so much that I pushed myself up onto my feet, ignoring the numbness of my legs after the shock of the freezing cold water.

"Dad?" I asked softly. He took his head out of his hands long enough to peer at me and give a grunt of acknowledgement. I winced when I saw his red eyes, and the water marks trailing down his cheeks.

"Is there anything- anything- that I can do to help? Maybe we could bring some food over for Sue, Leah and Seth. Surely they can't bring themselves to do anything right now."

It took him a while to respond. "That's a great idea, Bells. They'll appreciate it." He gave me a wavering smile, then left for the living room to give me some space in the kitchen.

Honestly, I wasn't sure they'd appreciate it at all. The food, maybe. But seeing my face? No. If you looked at the bigger picture, technically I was the reason that the kids had phased. And though they couldn't blame Harry's heart problems on me, they sure as hell wouldn't want me showing up at their door right now. I sighed, deciding that I'd try my best anyways. At least they wouldn't starve.

I kept myself busy until Charlie made a point that we should probably get going. Two lasagnes, garlic bread, salad, a chocolate pie and an apple crumble should do it. We stuffed everything into the back of the cruiser and started on our way.

The amount of grief lingering in the air of the Clearwater residence was palpable. I flinched at the look on Sue's face when she answered the door. Her eyes were puffy, her nose was red, her mouth trembled whenever she opened it, and her eyes held such sorrow that it made me want to wrap my arms around her waist and convince her that everything would be alright. I guessed that if she didn't have two kids to be strong for, Sue would be losing it right about now.

With three pairs of arms, we managed to get the food inside the house in one go. Sue thanked me numerously, and I told her not to be ridiculous. She shouldn't have to be thinking about cooking.

"I'll go and get Seth and Leah down for dinner." Sue said quietly, and got up from her seat at the table.

"No, that's okay. We don't want to intrude." I said quickly. Charlie nodded from behind me.

"Nonsense." She brushed us both off and went to retrieve her children. I thought back to the last time I had seen them both. With Leah it had been her giving me a tongue lashing for messing Jacob around so much. I pictured her harsh glare and grimaced. With Seth… I remembered when he invited me to play volley ball with his friends, and I felt even more crushed than when I had received the news of Harry's death. I imagined Seth without that set grin on his face… actually, that was a lie. I couldn't. I didn't want to.

I was snapped out of my reverie by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. All three of them had their heads down and their shoulders slumped forward, as if the heartbreak was weighing them down physically. My own heart clenched at the sight. I tried not to look at them with too much pity- I had hated it, so I'm sure they would too.

I tried to take care of serving, but Sue was having none of it. We ate in silence. What, really, was there for us to say?

"Thank you again, Bella. You've outdone yourself." She said.

I smiled as best I could. "Not a problem."

At the sound of my voice, Seth's head snapped up. I could feel him looking at me intently, and met his eyes out of curiosity. We both gasped simultaneously. Everything else in the room seemed to blur. My heartbeat had either stopped completely, or sped up erratically. Everywhere he looked, my skin set alight. Though I wasn't doing anything but sitting down, I'm pretty sure that I began to pant. My body seemed to gravitate towards him, as if it was no longer gravity that pulled me down to earth, but Seth.

That thought brought me back to reality a little- I was pretty sure Jacob said the exact same thing to me when describing an… imprint. Shit. Shit. So that was what this was. To be completely honest with you, I was proud of myself for figuring it out so quickly.

I tried to continue eating dinner as normal, but it seemed as though Seth couldn't stop staring at me. As if sensing that it made me slightly uncomfortable, he tried to concentrate on his lasagne. But the poor wolf couldn't help himself from stealing a few glances. It worried me that I found it endearing.

There were so many feelings rushing around inside of me, I didn't know whether to smile, cry, jump into his arms or hide.

I had no clue whether the others had noticed the short but intense interaction that had gone on between the two of us. I couldn't find it in me to pay anyone else any attention.

I decided that even if I didn't quite know what the imprint meant, I was happy that it took Seth's mind off of his father's death. You could definitely tell he had been crying, but he seemed to have forgotten about that for the time being.

Dinner eventually ended, and Charlie and I started getting ready to leave. We had to give the poor family some peace and quiet to mourn.

"You're leaving already?" Seth asked in a slightly panicked tone as we walked over to the door. I turned around and gave him half a smile, conveying that I somewhat understood.

"Gonna be at Sam's tomorrow morning, Seth." I murmured. He didn't look completely satisfied with my answer, but accepted it.

Charlie gave Sue a small embrace, which I decided to follow his lead on. That meant it didn't look as weird when I hugged Seth. He stiffened up a little at first, and I understood why. There wasn't a spark, or a sudden jolt when we touched. Something just clicked into place, and no matter how subtle it was, we both knew it.

Seth's skin was warmer than a human's by far, but not uncomfortably hot like Jacob's sometimes was. It was smooth too. Comforting. It dawned on me that I should probably be the one comforting him, and rubbed a few repetitive circles into his back. The hug had lasted much longer than my one with Sue, and I was pretty sure the kid was about to start purring, so I forced myself to pull away. He gave me a look so hurt that I had to turn away, even though his puppy-dog eyes made a giggle bubble up deep down inside of me.

Leah hadn't deigned to walk me and Charlie to the door, which I couldn't blame her for. So we left with one last goodbye, and I tried to get to sleep without thinking too much about Seth. It was a lot easier said than done.

The next morning, I skipped breakfast and headed off to Emily's house as I had promised. It was probably way safer in La Push, anyways. With Victoria still set out on giving me a slow and painful death and all. I shivered.

I pulled up outside the pretty little cottage and breathed in and out of my mouth deeply for a while. I could hear the boys chatter from outside, so it couldn't be anywhere near as bad as the Clearwater residence. I had no idea why I was so nervous.

I stalled for a little while, overthinking and doing who-knows-what. I was brought out of my thoughts by a small tap on my window. I jumped so high I almost hit my head on the top of the truck. I turned to see who it was, only to find Seth standing there, his lips twitching as if he were trying not to smile.

I opened the door slightly, sheepish that he had caught me.

"You gonna come inside?" He asked. Hearing his voice lifted weight that I hadn't even known I'd been carrying off my shoulders. I didn't like how I was so reliant on him after less than 24 hours of being imprinted on. I reminded myself that I still needed to get the details on that from someone.

"I don't see why not."

Halfway up the driveway, he stopped in his tracks. "Actually, I want to talk to you first." I raised my eyebrows at him. He looked down at the floor, and I instantly felt bad about the harsh look.

"It's okay, Seth. I know about the imprint." I murmured, trying to make it easier for the young wolf.

His head snapped up. "Jacob told you?" He asked unhappily.

"No. He didn't tell me about you imprinting on me, just about imprinting itself."

"-and you figured out the other part by yourself." It wasn't a question, but I still nodded and blushed. Seth ran his hand through his hair in one rough motion. His thick brows were furrowed, creating a small crease between them. He looked utterly torn.

"Was there something else?" I prompted for him to continue.

"I don't know, Bella. My father just died yesterday," his voice wobbled at that part, and I had to refrain myself from reaching out to comfort him. "And I haven't been able to concentrate on grieving for him one bit. I can't take my mind off of you. One minute I'm crying for my dad, and the next I'm wondering what your favourite colour is. It's ridiculous!"

I sighed. I hadn't been able to focus on much apart from the imprint, either. "What to you propose, then? How do the others go about it?" As soon as I asked the question I realised it was stupid. I thought back to the way Sam peppered Emily's face in kisses, then to the way Kim had been wrapped around in Jared's arm at the bonfire that night. I felt heat rise to my cheeks. Though Seth did look like a 20-year-old underwear model, I had to keep reminding myself of his age. And try my hardest not to notice the fact that he was standing about a couple feet in front of me, shirtless. Ugh, what would Charlie think?

"I'm not the one who's going to be proposing anything." Seth stated matter of factually. "I'm all yours, Bella. Whatever you want me to be."

I stared at him incredulously. He met my eyes, and it became clear to me that he spoke nothing but the truth.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" I spluttered. "Surely you must have some say in this! And you're only 14, for God's sake!"

"15, actually." He muttered quietly, clearly not please with my reaction.

"Not helping."

Seth sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "I understand you not wanting a relationship with me," he started.

"That's not what I meant." I stated, rubbing my temples. But what had I meant? He looked and acted older than his age, and I certainly wasn't getting any younger. Then I pinched my thigh to get myself to snap out of it.

"Let me finish. Can we please just be friends? Not even as close as you and Jacob. Just friends. That's all. If you want, of course. You have every say." Seth started to ramble, and I found myself smiling at him.

"Of course, Seth. I'd be honoured to be one of your friends. Oh, and by the way, my favourite colour's brown."

This time, it was his turn to smile.

A/N: Please review!