"Hey what's going on?" It's Seth.

"Just ya know, playing with Sprinkles."

"Sprinkles? I thought you named your bunny Thumper."

Shit, I snap out of it, "Oh, yeah I did. I'm-I'm thinking of making cupcakes and need to see what sprinkles I have." I scrunch my face up and lean against the steering wheel.

"Oh," he chuckles, "I was going to see if you were in town still, mom wanted to see if you wanted to come over for dinner?"

"Oh yeah that sounds good. My mom's working late anyway, I'll drive out."

"Why don't you sleep over? So you don't have to drive back late."

"Sure, yeah."

"Great, iIll see ya soon."

"Okay, bye." I hang up and drive slowly back to Erica's. I pack normal clothes for work tomorrow and wait until I'm about to leave before I feed Sprinkles. It's only maybe a 20 minute drive to their house.

"Hey." Seth and I hug when he answers the door.

"No surprises tonight right?"

"Surprises?"

"No one else is invited?"

"No, just us four."

"Good." I walk past him and set my bag on the couch, "Smells good." I find Sue in the kitchen.

"Meatball subs okay?"

"Great."

"Can you set the table?"

"Sure." I put everything out and take my seat, we wait for Leah to come down before we start eating.

"So we've picked Saturday for the funeral." Sue says as she makes her plate.

"Okay."

"At noon."

"I'll let my mom know. I'll need the address before I leave."

"Remind me later." The rest of dinner is pretty much silent except for Seth who talks the whole time. I help sue clean up afterwards, Leah retreats back to her room and Seth and I watch tv in the living room after I change into sweat pants and a tank top.

"Have any board games or anything?" I ask as he flips through the channels.

"Um there should be a monopoly around here somewhere." He laughs.

"Oh don't worry about it then." I put my feet up on the coffee table and lean a little closer to him. He picks American Pie.

"Oh, perfect movie to watch with your brother."

"You're lucky, first time I saw this was with mom and dad."

"Okay yeah you win." My phone vibrates on the coffee table, he hands it to me glancing at the screen; its Tyler.

"Hello?" I answer and go in the kitchen.

"Hey it's Tyler."

"I know." I laugh lightly, "Caller I.D." I smile.

"Right," I hope I didn't embarrass him.

"So what's up?"

"I was hoping if you're not busy we can set something up for Saturday."

"Oh I'm sorry, I can't."

"Oh." He's disappointed.

"Saturday's my dads funeral."

"Ooh." His voice trails off.

"I'm free Sunday though."

"Sunday's fine by me, but I'll be on call."

"Okay."

"We can wait if you want. If it's too soon-"

"No, thank you, but Sunday will be fine."

"Do you like Mexican food?"

"Yeah."

"Great I'll pick you up at five?"

"Yeah five sounds great."

"I'll see you then."

"Okay bye." I'm still smiling. I go back in the living room, put my phone back in the table and return to my sitting position. Seth looks at me, "What?" I sigh.

"Do you want to talk?"

"About what?"

"What happened at work the other day."

"There's nothing to talk about. Jacob and I are fine."

"Oh you're fine? That's why you just made a date with another guy?"

"You said before you want me to be happy," he nods, "well Jacob calling me a prostitute and Paul my pimp didn't make me happy. I told him that, that was it and he just stood there so," I shrug, "he's fine with it."

"Yeah I highly doubt that."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter." I say quietly.

"It does matter he still loves you."

"Yeah I can tell." I scoff. He sighs giving up.

Later on While Seth's in the shower I start to doze off on the couch. A few quick knocks sound against the door as it opens and someone calls for Seth. It scared me awake and my heart starts racing. Jacob and Quil stand in the doorway. Jacob's eyes bug out a little when he sees me.

"What are you doing here?" I ignore him and throw my hands over my eyes and chest.

"Shit were you sleeping?" Quil asks me.

"Yes! Who the hell comes into someone else's house like that?" I try to slow my heart beat down.

"Sorry."

"Just a habit." Jacob shrugs. "Where's Seth?"

"In the shower." Quil rushes up the stairs. "So um," Jacob looks at me, he looks as if he hasn't slept in weeks, "Dr. Hawkins thinks it would be a good idea for you to join me next Wednesday at her office. Don't feel obligated or anything-"

"I'll go." He cuts me off.

"O-oh." I nod. "Thanks."

"What does she know?"

"Everything."

"Everything everything?"

"What are you referring to exactly?"

"That I'm a shifter? The thing with David?"

"Yes and no. I've been learning a lot from her too."

"Like what?"

"Just more about myself. I used to see her when I was nine."

"Why?"

"I guess the amazing hearing thing has always been apart of me."

"Really?" He actually seems interested.

"Yeah, well not inside someone else's head, but from far distances. I guess I used to ruin surprises all the time." I smile a little and shrug.

"I'm interested to see what else she has to say about you."

"Yeah…" I look away, I'm not going to tell him I'm kind of a goddess. Seth and Quil come galloping down the stairs.

"Sorry I forgot about patrol." Seth gives me a peck on the cheek.

"No worries. Maybe I'll try my luck and see if Leah wants to do something." I stand. My tank top is raised away from the hem of my pants a little, Jacob stares at the skin. I fix it and his eyes meet mine, he holds my gaze.

"We gotta go." Quit opens the door and Seth follows him out. Jacob flashes a half smile and leaves closing the door softly. I take a deep breath and slowly climb the steps to Leah's room. I knock twice and enter; I smile and sit on the edge of her bed.

"What's up?" She asks looking up from her magazine, she's at the head of her bed with her legs outstretched.

"Ya busy?" I fold my legs up indian style.

"Not really."

"Want to do something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know." I shrug.

"Go get some movies and just hang out?" She suggests.

"Sure!" I smile, "I'm in desperate need of a polish change too." I look at my chipped purple nail polish.

"I can do them!" She says quickly, "I'm getting better."

"Okay." I get up, "We'll leave in five." She closes her magazine and I walk in Sue's room, her door's open. It's weird being in here.

"Sue?"

"Yeah?" She looks up from her tablet.

"Leah and I are going to go rent some movies, need anything while we're out?"

"No thank you. Have fun and don't stay up too late."

"We won't." I smile and grab a slouchy beanie from my bag up stairs and get my purse. I drive us down to the Family Video a few blocks away. We grab three movies with hot guys in them not even worrying about the plots, some boxes of candy from by the registers and a bag of twizzlers. When we get home we watch them in the living room. During the movie we add in our own commentary. After the first movie she refills our pop and I use the bathroom.

"How's it going?" I hear Sue ask.

"Really fun." Leah responds.

"Good. I'm glad you girls are doing something together."

"Me too." I rush in the bathroom so they don't know I overheard them. During the second movie she does my nails, we doze off during the last one.

I wake up the next morning in my old bed in Seth's room. "Wow I don't even remember coming in here." I rub my face.

"That's because you were still asleep." He pulls on a shirt. "Jacob carried you in here and covered you up."

"Oh." He walks out and I get dressed-jeans and a regular t-shirt. It's a v-neck, but it's not like my chest is hanging out. I drive over to work and grab my apron from under the front counter.

"How was your night?" Jacob comes out of no where and scares me. "Sorry." He flashes a half grin.

"Leah and I had a lot of fun." I tie the strings behind me.

"Yeah I could tell. You two were passed out when we got back."

"That was our third movie and she did my nails." I drum my fingers on the counter top, he nods looking at them. "Thanks for taking me up to bed."

He looks back up to my eyes, "No problem."

"Why didn't you or Seth just wake me up?"

He hesitates, "It was nice to have you in my arms again." I lean back and stand up straight, I look down, there's a short silence. "I'll see you later." He slaps the counter top lightly and goes into the kitchen.

Friday I go home and pick out a dress for Saturday and something for Sunday. My dress for Saturday is all black-obviously-with black lace off the shoulders and a cinched bottom is loose with a full layer of lace over it. I unzip the bottom section of the garment bag it's in and put black heels in. I leave a note with directions on the table for my mom and leave; I'm still not ready to see her. Saturday morning I get dressed, apply light make up and bobby pin the left side of my hair back and around so it all hangs over my right shoulder. I drive over to Seth's and wait inside for them to finish getting ready. My mom said she was going to meet us here and follow us too.

"How's she doing?" I ask Leah when she let's me in.

"Fine. Not even crying."

"And Seth?"

"A little quieter than usual, but it's nice." She smiles, I give her a look.

"What about you?"

"I've…made peace with him leaving. I'm just not over how it happened." I nod, "But what about you?"

"I'm definitely going to cry, but I can't do anything to change it, so…"

"Right." she sighs. Sue and Seth come down the stairs, Seth has on black dress pants and shoes with a nice button up shirt, he looks so much older. Sue's dress is tasteful and to her knees.

"Are we ready?"

"Yeah."

"Where's your mom?" She asks me.

"Pulling in now." I let go of the curtain, we all walk out. I leave my car there and ride over with my mom. We're the first's to arrive, then the elders, next is the rest of the pack and their families. Sue, Leah, Seth and me stand in the receiving line my mom leaves to mingle. When the line begins the pack family is first. Sam and Emily are first. Emily and Sue hug for a while, they're each sniffing uncontrollably. When I see Billy get to Sue I tense up, here comes Jacob.

"I'm so sorry honey." Billy says when I hug him.

"Thank you." I smile a little. As he's leaving I see Jacob hugging Leah, it's quick, but tight. Then he gets to Seth and they both start crying, Seth more than Jacob. Jacob's really just tearing up and sniffling. They're gripping each other tightly in bear hugs and rocking back and forth slightly. When they finally let go he turns to me I see his red terry eyes and look away to blink back tears.

"Don't do that." He says in front of me, I face him fully and my eyes fill with tears. He's dressed in nicer clothes than he was for David's funeral. His shirt fits him a lot better too; it's tighter against him. His hair's slicked back and he cleaned up around his scruff. I unfortunately can't turn off my hormones; of all places to be aroused, my father's funeral!

"Do what?"

"Hold back." He looks between my eyes, "Cry." He pleads. We hug and he whispers in my ear, "I'm so sorry Sveta." I loose it. I sob into his chest and shake, he cries too; I can't stop. He turns me, "Come with me," He put a hand on Seth's shoulder, "She'll be right back." He nods. Jacob grips my shoulder tightly and holds me against him while he navigates us through all the people. He leads us downstairs to a big open room with chairs and a small sofa. He sits us on the sofa and pulls me even closer. "Let it out." He hands me a few tissues and I wipe my face on them instead of his shirt. He rocks us gently and my shaking slows to a stop along with the tears. He keeps us moving as he grips me tighter and I lay against him breathing slowly.

"I'm sorry about your shirt." I pull at it a little.

"I'm not." I lean back a little and look up at him, our faces are inches apart. My eyes linger on his lips and slowly make their way up to his eyes.

"Thank you." I whisper and move in the tiniest bit more. I kiss him softly, barely touching his lips. His eyes slide shut and he pushes his mouth to mine. His kisses are gentle and slow. This is the slowest we've ever kissed, but I wouldn't ask for anything else right now. Our tongues lightly slide against one another. My heart beat quickens and I turn my head more so I can rest it on his left arm, He leans in more so our lips never separate. My left hand naturally rubs the hair at the nape of his neck behind his ear, his grip on my left hip tightens for a second, an involuntary reflex. I squeeze his neck, knowing I can't hurt him and just hold our lips together. I lean back, he doesn't move an inch. On his neck I feel his erratic pulse under my thumb and rub the skin softly. His eyes close and his heart slows. He leans down a few inches and kisses my neck gently, I sniff a little more. He removes his lips and rubs his nose against my cheek before leaving a light kiss.

"Oh." Someone says from the steps, we look over; I immediately wish I hadn't.

"You have impeccable timing." He says to her, his voice is low-rough. Bella stands on the third step from the bottom.

"I'm sorry, I'll come ba-"

"Don't bother." I stand and grab a few more tissues. I can feel Jacobs eye's on me, but I don't look back at him. It takes ever ounce of will power I can scrape up to not look at him. I walk over to the stairs. "You shouldn't even be here."

"I'm really sorry for…" She trails off as I walk past her not acknowledging her or her bullshit apology. I step back in line next to Seth. He flashes a sympathetic smile, I rub his arm. I've missed a huge chunk of the line and a little relief hits me. When I see who's about to shake Seth's hand my eyebrows furrow. Tyler's dressed nicely with a dark blue sweater over his collared shirt. His frame's slightly slimmer than Jacob's. Why am I comparing the two?

"What are you doing here?" I ask when he steps in front of me.

"I came to give my condolences on my way to work."

"The flowers were enough." I smile. He opens his arms, I walk into them for a hug. One of his arms wraps around my upper back and the other wraps around my hips to hold me tightly. I can see Bella talking to Jacob, he's looking at me not even paying attention to her. I bow my head a little more to get closer to Tyler, Jacob gets pissed. He puts a hand on her shoulder and they walk away. "I thought you weren't working?" We let go, but he holds my hands.

"I picked up a shift when you said you couldn't make it. Better chance I'll be moved down on the list and won't be called in tomorrow."

"Oh, thank you for coming." I smile.

"Of course." He smiles back, "I'll see you tomorrow." I nod my head and as he walks away he slowly lets go of my hands.

Charlie and Bella are last in line. Sue shoots Leah a death glare so Leah hugs Bella back. When she gets to me we look at each other, it's just us two. Her dad, Sue, Leah and Seth have walked away with people. "I can't begin to say how sorry I am," She starts. "honestly."

"What exactly are you sorry for?"

"...That your dad's gone?"

"Gone means he's away and could come back. He's not away, he's not gone. He's dead!"

"I honestly don't know what you want me to say."

"Honestly?" I mock her, her eyebrows slightly raise. "Well, honestly me talking to you right now is making me sick. I told Edward the next time I saw you I wasn't going to hold back at all. So I'll tell you what," I cross my arms, my hands are in fists. The sunlight shining through the windows fades out completely, everything gains a shadow, "seeing as this isn't the time nor place for that if you stay the fuck away from me for the rest of the day you'll survive." She blinks a few times, "Understand?" She nods. I stomp away and grab a box of tissues to put in my lap, I slide into my seat next to Lean and my mom. Leah and me end up going through a whole box of tissues our selves. My mom dabs at the corners of her eyes, but never really cries. After all the speeches people mingle and spend time weeping over the collage of him and his family. I walk up when it's empty and look at them all. I was able to see it earlier when they were making it, but never finished. I realize I'm not in any to the pictures. Why would I be?

"He looks happy." Jacob says next to me.

"Because he was with his family." I sniff, "The one he loved at least." I smile and start crying again.

"He loved you too." He tries to put a hand on my shoulder, but I shake it off. I start to walk away, but see Bella starting to come this way, when she sees me she stops. I turn and walk the other way-straight out of the building. I walk across the huge stone landing and down a few steps sitting in the middle. The skies are black, I can see the lightning moving around in the clouds. Thunder sounds everywhere; the wind whips around like crazy. "What are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't be in there anymore. With you, Bella…all those people…that damn collage." I shake my head.

"What did I do?"

"Nothing." I look up at him, "You didn't do anything Jacob."

"Talk to me." He sits next to me. "You're upset you're not in the collage."

"I don't know why it surprised me so much. I knew I wasn't going to be in any of the pictures with him, but there's still a part of me that's like, damn...why didn't they even ask me for one picture? Why couldn't they simply ask if I wanted to be represented as being a part of his life?"

"Would you have given them a picture?" He looks at me.

I look back trying not to cry again, "If I had one I would have." His eyes glisten and he looks up.

"I am so sorry."

"Please stop saying that."

"Not just because of your dad, but for it all. I have so much that I am sorry about."

"I can't talk about that now, please."

"No, I know." He nods, "Do you..." He trails off and looks ahead.

"Do I what?" He doesn't say anything, "Say what you were going to say."

"Do you really not have any pictures with your dad?"

"I've only ever seen one. I'm a few months old and he's giving me a bath in the sink. There are bubbles everywhere, I'm laughing and he looks defeated."

He smiles, "Where could the rest be?"

"The rest? They don't exist. In 18 years I've never once seen anything else." But then again I never knew about that box at my grandpa's either.

"There has to be more."

"I never saw him on birthday's, one maybe two holiday's a year, and rarely ever in between. Not a lot of chances for family photos." We sit in silence, the sky lightens slightly. The wind sends chills through me, I wrap my arms around myself for warmth. I lean forwards and dip my head taking slow breaths.

"I didn't know she was going to be here today." I look over at him, "Bella." He clarifies. "I wish she wasn't here." He catches me off guard.

"Why would you want that?"

"Because I know it hurts you to have her here." When I look at him he's already looking at me, "And I can't stand it when you're hurt."

"You can't?" He looks away, but doesn't say anything.

Finally he says what I've been waiting for him to say, "I saw Tyler earlier."

"Yeah he stopped by on his way into work."

"That was…nice of him."

"It was."

"Did you know he was coming?"

"No, it was a surprise just like Bella."

"I didn't ask her to be here if that's what you're getting at!" He get's louder.

"I wasn't saying you asked her to come!"

"But you think I knew she'd be here! Did you know Tyler would be here?"

"What does that matter?"

"Did you?"

"No! Even if I did so what? He came here to support me today!" I glare at him, "He didn't acknowledge you were here, he didn't even know you were here and never spoke to you. Why are you pissed?"

"You know how I feel about him!"

"I never thought I'd see him today. And I don't even get why you don't like him. What did he do?" I pause, "It's not like I was ever sneaking around with him. Having dinner at a place I knew you didn't know about and would never see us! That wasn't me!" I yell , lightning flashes across the sky. He flinches, I don't move.

"What does that even mean?" Shit! Why did I just say that?

"Let me walk you through it." I stand, he follows, "After you abandoned me at David's funeral I went back home, packed up your shit and dropped it off on your front step. There was a note on your door. Stupid me thought maybe you left it for me. That maybe you knew I'd come to you house looking for you and you wanted to explain what happened. Spoiler alert that's not what happened." I scrunch up my face and shake my head, "Someone wanted you to meet them at Dina's. To talk. It seemed like you approached them first and they were finally giving in. Seth ran by and I asked him who Dina was, little did I know it was a restaurant. I was curious who wanted to finally talk with you, so I went there. And what did I see? Any guesses?" He's silent, "No? I'll help. You. Having dinner. With. Bella. I just…I don't understand!" I throw my arms out. Lightning hits closer to the sidewalk. Shit.

"You have no idea what was going on!" He yells at me.

"I know what I saw!" I yell back.

"Did you hear the conversation? NO!" One of the door's opens and Leah walks out.

"Come on." She grabs my arm and walks me down the stairs.

"What?" I ask tripping a little.

"What are you doing?" Jacob follows.

"This is NOT happening right now!" She stops abruptly and turns to him, "Fuck off!" She starts pulling at me again. We get in Sue's car and she drives us back to her house.

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. I brought something up that I shouldn't have. He had dinner with Bella and didn't know I knew."

She sighs, "Fuck."

"I didn't mean for it to come out like that right now. I didn't even want him to know I knew."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing really, he said it's not what it looked like."

"What did it look like?"

"Like they were having dinner! She looked a little mad, but it could've been from anything I don't know."

"Do you want me to take you home?"

"No!" She looks at me quickly, "I'm staying at a friends house, but I told my mom I'd be at your house. Can you please go along with it?"

"Sure." she pauses, "Is this friend a guy?"

"No she's an old friend. I met her at a college party."

"College party?"

"Yeah," I chuckle.

"I'm definitely hearing that story tonight." She pulls into her drive way and we sit on the front steps outside. "What is going on between you guys?"

"Me and Jake? Nothing really now."

"I say you cut all strings."

"How exactly do I do that? I'm woking again at Sue's-he's there-when I come over here-he's here-I can't escape him without abandoning you guys too."

"And he's probably going to be over more now. That's just how he is, he cares about the pack families so much."

"You're kind of going in the opposite direction with this conversation. Bad things only. I don't want to hear how amazing and caring he is."

"Right. Want a drink?"

"Yes! Quickly before my mom gets here." I follow her in the kitchen and down to the pantry. She pours us each a shot from a hidden bottle of Vodka.

"Another?" She asks.

"Hit me!" we down another.

"Leah! Sveta!" I hear Sue yell upstairs.

"Shit." She sets her glass down. I snatch the bottle from her hand and swig a few sips before she grabs it back. "Hey!" She laughs. I start coughing, the burn's too much; she laughs at me again. I try, but cough some more. "Come one, we gotta go." We run up the steps.

It was my dad's wish to be cremated so everyone's headed over here for food.

"Everything okay?" My mom asks.

"Yeah," Leah puts an arm around my shoulder, "I couldn't stay there anymore, so she came with me." She gives Leah a sympathetic look and rubs her shoulder a little before going into the kitchen. A lot of car doors shut.

"I think I'm going to need more vodka." She laughs.

"Not a problem." She stares off a little, "I think I still have some in my room."

"Yeah?" I ask hopeful.

"I'll check later." She says as she walks over and opens the door for everyone