Don't own anything except OC's.

Chapter 6: Being old

2013: Claire ten-years-old

Quil's POV

I had been working on a car in the Forks garage of Fix 'n' Go when I got an emergency call from Jasmine to baby-sit Nora and Claire. Oliver's mom, Samantha, had caught the flu and had to back out last minute on watching the girls. Jasmine couldn't take the day off work and Oliver was already at his company, so I was called in as the last resort. This didn't bother me too much as I got to spend more time with Claire than in a usual week.

Over the past four years Claire had been visiting La Push less and less, much to my charging. Nora, now a fully fledged teenager, wanted to hang out with her friends on the weekends instead of visiting her Aunt and Uncle, which meant Jasmine and Oliver had to stay in La Push, and Claire couldn't come down without them. Before Jasmine and Oliver had let me bring Claire down to La Push myself as long as she stayed at Emily's, but since Sam and Emily had had their sons Claire hadn't been able to stay there as much. No matter how much I asked and how much Emily said it was okay, there was no way Claire's parents would let her stay with me for the night. Of course, I would have slept on the couch and her in my bed, but they were having none of it.

Still, Claire called me every night to talk about her day, her friends and ask what was happening in my life. On the weekends she insisted that I was the one to help her when she got stuck on some homework so I got to visit Makah about once a month, sometimes more when Jasmine and Oliver decided to have a "date night".

I dressed as quickly as I could and sprinted to the door, knocking loudly. Jasmine opened it looking frazzled. "Oh, thank God, Quil," she sighed in relief. "They're in the living room. I'm late as it is so I need to go. Bye!"

She waved over her shoulder and threw herself into the car. I heard her roaring off before I even had the door fully shut.

"Quil!" Claire shouted, standing up to hug me around the middle. Her head only came to my waist. "I'm so glad you're here! I convinced mom to ring you."

"I'm glad," I kissed her forehead. "Where's Nora at?"

"She's being moody," she rolled her eyes and plopped back down onto the floor, legs crossed. "I mentioned that her hair looked a little wild today so she threw her shoe at me and ran off to her bedroom."

"Did it hurt you?" I asked worriedly, checking her face and limbs for any sign of blood.

Claire laughed breezily. "Of course not, she missed. She's got the worst aim in the world, idiot."

"It's not nice to call someone an idiot, Claire," I scolded half-heartedly.

"Sorry," she shrugged, not looking sorry at all. "I'm stuck on a math question, could you help me?"

By the time we had finished her question sheet she had somehow ended up in my lap like she did when she was a baby. Her hair was longer and thicker now so it sometimes hit me in the face when she bent down to write on her paper. Her familiar kiwi and lilac scent comforted me and it made me miss her even more. We hadn't hung out much lately. She had been out with her friends a lot and I had to pick up extra shifts at the garage to help pay the rent of the flat I had moved into.

Seth, Jake, Collin and I had moved into the flat above the only coffee shop in La Push. It was owned by an elderly woman, her husband and their sons' family. They needed the extra money to keep the shop going and we had all been looking for a cheap flat for over a year. It was a big flat, surprisingly, with four decent sized bedrooms, one big bathroom, and a joint kitchen and living room. It was crammed with all of our shit (we had said we would sort it out during the first week we moved in. We had been there for five months and it was still a tip), but I loved it there.

We weren't the only ones that had changed in the past four years. Sam and Emily had a son called Tyrone who was just over a two-years-old old and Nathan who was seven-months old. Kim and Jared had married September 12th 2010 on the beach near the rocks and they now had a son, Landon, who was just over a year old. Paul and Rachel came back from their world adventure in January 2012 bearing gifts and wonderful stories from around the world. Oh, and a two-month-old son, Noah. They got married March 4th 2012 with the help of Alice's Cullen's expertise on the high cliffs of La Push. They had another son as well now, Randall, or Randy as everyone called him, and lived a minute walk from Billy's house.

Ivan and Maggie were also married last year on May 23rd in the middle of the forest when she was four months pregnant. They were now in the process of opening up their own restaurant called Harper's whilst caring for their daughter, Isla. With Ethan and Audrey's daughter, Tessa, rounding off the new additions, I was finding it hard to keep up with all the new wolf babies.

But the most shocking of all, Embry was a dad to a one-year-old boy named Jackson. Only two years ago he had met Elle Natt in a club down Seattle and he fell in love, but did not imprint. He insisted that he wanted to be with her even though the consequences were severe and though I admired him for it, I also thought he was stupid, but I had always thought he was stupid. Elle fell pregnant four months into the relationship. Embry had been shocked at first, he apparently went to Jake in high-freak out mode (I was out with Claire), however, after a while he came around to the idea. He didn't shut up for a month after finding out he was having a son. He now lived in a house with Elle and Jackson near the community centre.

Claire had been growing, too, meaning our relationship had grown. During the four years our relationship had gone from brother/sister to best friends and I didn't even have time to realize how, why and when. One day she was my little sister, the next I saw her like I saw Jake and Embry. It was strange and fascinating at the same time. The most important thing, however, was that Claire was happy. She liked school, she had good friends, she was getting good grades. The only thing that made her sad was not seeing me enough and I was going to try and fix that soon.

We sat down to watch T.V. after finishing homework. Claire suddenly squealed girlishly and shoved herself forward to turn up the volume so loud it began to hurt my ears.

"Oh, he's so dreamy!" she sighed dreamily to the T.V.

"What?" I blanched.

"Look!" she screamed, pointing wildly. "Isn't he gorgeous?"

I looked at the television and saw a teenage guy singing while dancing with a bunch of good-looking women.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Justin Bieber, Quil!" Claire snapped like I had said something terribly offensive. "He's only the best looking guy in the world!"

I didn't see anything special about him. He looked quite lanky and baby-faced and wore too much leather.

Claire tittered when I didn't reply and turned her attention back to the telly. I raised my eyebrows when Claire began to mutter the words along to songs while smiling happily. I'd never seen her act this before over a boy. She was ten, wasn't she supposed to be finger-painting and playing with Barbie's? She should still be thinking that boys have cooties.

There was a knock at the door before I could think further.

"I'LL GET IT!" Nora screeched before I could even blink. She bounded down the stairs and yanked open the door. "Oh, hey, Embry," she said flirtatiously.

Embry? What was he doing here?

"Nora. Is Quil here?"

"I'm here, man, what's up?" I asked, coming up behind Nora. She sent me a glare and then fluttered her eyelashes at Embry. Instead of humouring her like he normally did, he ignored her. Looking closer, I saw he had bags under his eyes and his body looked fatigued.

"Can I talk to you for a sec? I need to talk to someone...you're the only person I can talk too."

Nodding, I turned to Claire. "Can you go and play with Nora for a little while, Claire-Bear?"

She scowled at the nickname and my lips quirked despite the situation. Nora, sensing the seriousness, grabbed Claire's hand and chatted on about doing some hair-braid thing she had just learnt from school.

I led Embry to the kitchen, got us a beer each and sat down on the kitchen table waiting for him to talk. He jugged down three-quarters of his beer, sighed and looked up at me with tired eyes. "Sam wants to get a DNA test done," he said after a long beat of silence. "He wants to know if we're brothers or not now he has enough money to pay for one."

Shocked, I spat back the beer in my mouth into the bottle. "Why now?" I blurted mindlessly.

"Because of the kids," he replied simply. "He said he wanted to know if Jack, Ty and Nathan are cousins or not and now is the time to do it."

I thought about that for a moment. I could totally understand where Sam was coming from and it couldn't hurt to take a DNA test, could it? We could finally solve the mystery of Embry's heritage and a lot of unanswered questions would be answered within the pack. In fact, I couldn't think of a reason why not too. Why hadn't we thought of that before?

"It doesn't sound too bad, mate. You'll even gain a brother. Given, it might be Sam but, hey, something's better than nothing, right?" I joked, trying to lighten the situation. Embry didn't even crack a smile. "Why so down, anyway? It wouldn't be so bad to find out who your dad is, would it?"

Embry picked at the label on his beer bottle and I watched him curiously. "What if it turns out bad?"

"Meaning?"

Embry sighed and my eyebrows scrunched in confusion. "What if...what if the test doesn't come out like we want it too?"

I paused to think. "I'm not getting it."

Embry took another long swig of his beer and looked me in the eye. Seeing my gaze, he cleared his throat uncomfortably and wrung his hands together. "We all figure Joshua's my dad, right? What if he isn't? What if it's someone else? I could ruin someone's reputation if it turns out to be—to be them."

Then, it clicked.

He was scared because if it wasn't Josh, it was Billy Black or...my dad. My dad had died when I was only young in a freak boating accident and my mom still wasn't fully over it. I didn't remember much about him, but the memories I did have were good ones, mostly of him, me and my mom playing with toys, playing catch, fishing or watching birds in the woods. Billy was like a father to Embry anyway and I knew Billy considered him apart of the family, but Embry was worried about Jake. Jake thought the world of his dad and to find out that he had cheated on his mom before she died...would that ruin Billy in Jake's eyes? I wasn't sure.

"Would you be bothered?" Embry asked suddenly. "If it was your dad, would you care? Would you think any less of him?"

From what people had told me, my dad was awesome. He was a lot like my grandpa, apparently, straight-forward, blunt and so dry it was hilarious. He also had a loving, caring side, shown by his love for his friends, my mom and me. If I found out he had fathered Embry, would I respect him less? No, not really. Embry was like a brother to me anyway and it would be cool for him to actually be related to me. I remembered my dad as a respected, strong-willed man and even though he would have cheated on my mom...I couldn't find it in myself to disrespect him. He was my dad.

"No," I replied honestly. "He was my dad," I said shortly.

I didn't think that would be enough, I was going to cry if I carried on, though. However, Embry surprised me by nodding like he completely understood what I meant. Jack ran through my mind, the way Embry doted on him, how Jack gurgled happily when Embry was in sight. Maybe Embry did understand what I meant, but from a different point of view. From the dad's point of view instead of the child's.

"What about Jake?" he questioned quietly.

"I don't know about him," I answered, gulping down the lump in my throat. "But you're not just doing it for you, Embry, you're doing it for Jack, Ty and Nathan now, too, and any other kids you guys might have. I think you all deserve to know and if it turns out to be Billy or my dad...well, we'll just have to deal with it together, won't we?"

"I suppose," Embry nodded. "I've just been worried over the thought of destroying respect for Billy or your dad, you know? I didn't want to taint someone's reputation for something I could live without. In my mind, I don't have a father. My mom, the pack, Elle and Jack are enough for me."

"Just go for it, Em. We need to find out eventually, anyway. The sooner we do the better we can handle the outcome."

"Yeah." He breathed, gently fingering the torn up beer label. "Yeah, you're right," he said harder. "Thanks, Quil, I needed that. Now I have to go and talk to Jake."

We hugged quickly and then he ran out the front door. I watched silently after him, wondering what was in store for the pack when the DNA tests came back. I stood for a while just thinking until the imprint pull in my back reminded I was wasting precious hanging out time with Claire. She was in Nora's room sat on the floor while said sister braided her hair, Claire was on the phone, too.

"Has Embry left?" Nora perked when she noticed I was by the door.

"Yes."

"Oh," she sighed disappointedly.

Claire scrunched up her nose and gave Nora a questionable gaze. "Why do you fancy Embry?" she whispered, taking the phone away from her mouth for a minute. I could hear the other person on the line still talking.

"Why not? He's hot."

"Ewww! He's Uncle Embry...and married...and old."

Old? She thought Embry was old? Embry was only seven months older than me, did she think I was old? Damn, I was only 22, that wasn't old, was it? My shoulders slumped and my body ached like I was a hundred years old. Nora said something else, but I could hardly pay attention to her. I felt like pouting and throwing a tantrum.

Claire went back to talking on the phone like she hadn't said anything. She hadn't even meant to offend me, yet somehow she had. Patiently, I waited near the door until Nora was done with her braid. Claire immediately got up, thanked Nora and walked over to grab my hand and pull me down the stairs, still talking to the girl on the line. Fifteen minutes, a lot of giggling, and at least ten repeated "Shut up, she didn't" later, Claire came off the phone.

"Is Embry okay? He looked sad," she observed worriedly.

"He's fine," I replied and even though it was only a small, white-lie, it still hurt me to say it to her. "Just had a lot going on," I added when the pain travelled to my heart.

"Oh. Tell him I hope he gets better."

"I will," despite what we were talking about, I smiled. She cared about the pack as much as I did. "Who was on the phone?"

"Gabby."

Claire had talked about Gabby a lot since they had met when they were in kindergarten. Gabby was her best "girlfriend", according to Claire, along with a girl called Behati. When she wasn't hanging out with me, she was hanging out with them or sleeping over at their houses. I hadn't met them yet because Claire said she didn't like people interrupting 'Quil and Claire hanging out time', which I happily agreed to.

We contently chatted away all night and tried to make cookies, though it ended up more on us than it did in the bowl. Oliver came back around six and pretty much chucked me out of the house, giving me just enough time to hug Claire before I was shoved out the front door. I ran back to La Push with one thing on replaying on my mind.

Was I really old?

Thoughts?

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-Laylax