The whole ride to the rez Grace was lost in thought. Her hands were clutching the wheel distractedly as she careened down the damp street in the mid-morning light. She bit her lip and replayed the words in her head:

"This is ridiculous, I don't understand why you keep doing this." the disembodied voice in her head said.

"Don't tell me to go. Please." it continued.

Grace pulled up to Emily and Sam's house, trying to clear her head of last night's events. It was key that she keep her face even and calm. Not only did she have to convince Sam to join her and Jacob at the clearing with the Cullen's to train, but she also needed to keep her thoughts clear to avoid any suspicion.

She took a deep breath and crossed the threshold.

"Grace, good morning!" Emily called from behind the counter. Paul looked up from his place leaning against the cabinets watching Emily cook as Jared talked in a low voice to him. Grace gave him a soft smile. He returned it but didn't move toward her.

Sam suddenly came in behind her. "What's this all about then?"

Jacob was at the kitchen table plowing through the first batch of cinnamon rolls with Quil, Seth, and Embry. Grace stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and made her way over to Paul.

"Hey," she said quietly as she walked up to him. He leaned down and kissed her gently, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Hey. How did you sleep?" He said nonchalantly. Grace let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, good. I missed you last night," she pressed, bringing her hands to his sides. He gave her a small smile and kissed her forehead roughly.

"I missed you too." He looked over to Sam and gave him a nod. Grace kept her eyes trained up at him, a little taken aback. Something felt off.

Jake launched into the story of the vampire army, that they were coming to Forks and that we needed to temporarily lift treaty lines to be able to train with the Cullens and defeat them. Grace watched for Paul's reaction, knowing how quick to anger he was, she thought she'd feel him tense up, or unconsciously grip her tighter. But he stayed at ease listening as Jake laid out the plan.

Sam looked to Grace at the end of his speech and said, "What do you think?"

Grace took a deep breath and shifted a little bit under the weight of Paul's arm.

"I think it's the right thing to do. The Cullen's pose no threat and working with them increases our chances of wiping out the real threat before anyone can get hurt." Grace said confidently, keeping her eyes locked on Sam's so as not to let her gaze drift to Jake's. "We are by no means required to train. We can just show up and watch. It would also give the pack a chance to see the Cullen's specialties in action."

Sam was nodded appreciatively. "Alright. Set it up." Grace nodded and turned to Paul.

"Do you want me to come over tonight?" Grace probed, running a hand across his lower torso. Paul looked down at her for a minute and then said,

"Uhh, not tonight." Okay he was definitely being weird.

"Oh...why not?" Grace couldn't help herself from asking. He brought a hand to cup her face and pull it up to look at him.

"Don't be so nosy, you'll find out. I'll text you later," he leaned down and dropped a peck on her lips and when Grace tried to hold him there a little longer, he pulled away and let go of her, patting Jared on the shoulder as they headed toward the door.

"Wha-" Grace said turning and watching them head out the door. "What was that about?" Grace asked Emily who just shook her head smiling.

"Who knows." Grace let out a groan. Maybe he had found out about the graduation party last night. The voice rose back up in her head "Don't tell me to go." Her eyes rested on Jake for just a minute. He always knew when she was watching him and immediately caught her gaze. Her mind shifted to last night again without her wanting it to.

They were in her backyard after the party. Jake had insisted on giving Grace a ride home instead of carpooling back with Edward and Bella. She had protested at first again reiterating their need for distance, but she caved, as she usually did when Jake was near her.

They had walked around the house, Grace not wanting to go inside just yet and settled on the rusted porch swing that faced the forest. He sat next to her, almost too close, their thighs touched.

"I don't like this," he said softly. Grace didn't want to speak, she didn't want to say anything that would push him further away. She didn't want to fight most of all. "Grace, you can't tell me you don't feel this immense….relief when we're near each other."

She looked down at her hands and he continued.

"It's like I can take a deep breath when you're near. And every time…..every time I'm around you it's like I have to be close to you or I'm going to explode." he paused to look over at her. "Ti'Hal said it's not an imprint but, I don't know. I feel…." he paused. "You must think I'm nuts."

"No." Grace said in a small voice.

"You can't tell me that you feel that way around Paul."

"Jake, I love him." she said softly. And it was true.

"This is ridiculous. I don't understand why you keep doing this." Jake paused. "Just tell me you feel it too."

"I think you should go," Grace said softly, not making eye contact.

"Don't tell me to go. Please." he said, "I've been trying so hard to give you space, to keep my distance because you said you were happy and Grace...Grace I just want you to be happy. So much. Just tell me, I'm not crazy."

She turned her head to look at him and let her hand rise to rest on his cheek. Immediately her anxiety ebbed but she pushed through. "Please go." She whispered, pain etched in her voice. Jacob grabbed her wrist and searched her eyes. "Please." She begged now.

In Grace's head, she was screaming at him to stay, to reach forward and pull her to him because all she craved was that relief he gave her. That connection that made her feel completely whole and rid her of that ache that Paul could never seem to satiate, only temporarily quiet. She knew Jake could sense it, hear it even if he was listening for it.

But after a few minutes of Grace holding her resolve and not letting her inner workings spill everywhere out onto the lawn, he stood quietly, firmly, and walked back around the house. Grace didn't move for a long time after that, but eventually made it up to her room and didn't bother getting undressed before collapsing into bed.

"You can't tell me that in a fight Godzilla wouldn't absolutely rock your shit," Embry countered, snapping Grace from her reverie. Jake had held her there in that moment.

"Seth, you're with me," Grace said, breaking her gaze from Jake and looking at Seth. He immediately perked up. Sam had asked Grace now that finals were over to start individually training with each member of the pack to help hone their skills and improve how they worked off of each other during rounds or in fight. "You and me dude," she said as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him toward the door.


Grace had coordinated with Carlisle to set up the training in a clearing between the two territories two days from when she had spoken to Sam. She hadn't heard from Paul for the rest of the day even though he told her he'd text her. She was starting to get nervous.

The next day, the day before the training, she waited, pacing her room and groaning with irritation. Still nothing. She sent him a text in the morning.

SMS Text—9:33 a.m.: Grace

Hey, you didn't call or text last night. Just checking in.

I'd like to see you today.

And then again in the afternoon.

SMS Text—1:45 p.m.: Grace

Are you okay?

If you're mad at me just tell me.

And then finally.

SMS Text—4:07 p.m.: Grace

This is stupid, Paul. I'm coming over.

She snapped her phone shut, pulled on some shorts and a hoodie and made her way to the truck. He couldn't stop her. But if he wasn't there, she'd have to find him another way. This radio silence didn't work for her when it came to Paul. If he was mad about Jake, she'd just deal with it now.

When she pulled up to his drive, she could clearly see a light on in his home. She jumped up the steps and went to knock on the door, but in her impatience thought better of it and pushed her way inside.

Her mouth dropped. She hadn't noticed from outside, but the house was somehow….bigger. Not monumentally bigger, but the living room was actually spacious and the kitchen didn't hide behind a little half wall. Things were still in disarray, but they still looked beautiful. The right wall of the house had been moved back closer toward the forest. The kitchen was open to the living room and an unfinished island sat where the half wall used to be. She gently strode past the living room and down the narrow hallway to the bedroom.

When she crossed the threshold to the bedroom, she audibly gasped. An extension had somehow been built in the short time she hadn't been here off of the bedroom. The extension was sunken and composed of a collage of windows making a makeshift sun room that the bed now faced. Light poured in through the windows and she took the two small steps down into the extension and spun around in the open space.

"You just couldn't wait, could you?" Paul said. She stumbled to a stop and looked up at him. He was standing with his arms crossed and a tool belt on, leaning against the bedroom doorframe.

"What is all this?" Grace said a smile erupting from her face. He beamed back.

"It's for you." He said simply pushing up from the doorframe and walking down the short steps to meet her.

"Me?" Grace said. "Paul this is incredible, how did you do this so fast?"

"I'm handy like that. And had some help from the rez obviously." He shrugged his shoulders and moved his arms around her waist.

"Paul, you do not just decide to do massive home renovations on a whim and ignore me for two days. What's up?" Grace countered.

"First of all, I was not ignoring you. I was busy doing something," he gestured to around the room but still gave her a joking smile. "And second of all, like I said. It's for you." He said this in a small voice, like he wasn't sure at first.

"You keep saying that. What are you talking about? Why would I need all of this? It's beautiful, yes. Do I love it? Yes. But, Paul this is your home." Grace said softly, putting her hand to his face.

"I hope not." He said cryptically. She raised an eyebrow and he took a deep breath like he was building the courage to say something immense. "Grace Alo. Will you move in with me?"

Grace looked at him for a long moment, thoughts rushing all around her head. Her hand never left his cheek as he watched her face for clues.

"Grace?" He said, nervous now and pulling her into him closer.

"Yes." she said simply, finally.

"Yes?" he confirmed, his voice rising with joy. She nodded enthusiastically and he started laughing pulling her up off her feet and spinning her around in the light filled room.


Grace padded down the hallway to the renovated kitchen to grab some coffee the next morning. She paused pouring a cup and looking around her, imagining herself here all the time and her heart swelled.

This can work.

She took a satisfied breath before returning to the bedroom, the early morning light beginning to pour softly through the window with the trees shimmering above. Paul had pulled the mattress off the bed and set it in the center of the sun room so they could sleep there. Grace looked up through the window panes now her mind flashing to last night as she had moved on top of him throwing her head back and letting the milky moonlight spill across her naked body.

She sipped her coffee quietly as Paul slept next to her and she felt a wave of happiness pour over her. Her breath caught in her throat for a second as she felt a familiar rush move through her, a thunderous sound rising from behind her and slowly creeping up over her head. Her eyes blurred for a second and shook it away.

"You okay?" Paul said groggily, peeking an open eye at her through the covers.

"Yeah," Grace said kind of breathless. She felt like she had gotten the wind knocked out of her for some reason. "Yeah, fine."

"It's bright," he moaned, trying to pull the covers over his head.

"Yeah, it is, but look at everything you can see!" She set her coffee down and stood up, throwing the loose t-shirt off and standing naked on the bed before him.

"It is a nice view," he laughed, before grabbing her around the knees and pulling her down to him. She shrieked and he quickly pulled her underneath him, pushing her legs apart with his. He stopped and kissed her nose softly before pushing into her and devolving their morning into a collection of moans and shudders as the sun spotlit them.


Grace walked into the clearing with her hands in the pockets of her zip up grey hoodie. She had opted to wear her old blue running shorts and had tied her hair up in a high ponytail. She fully intended on training with the Cullen's despite both Paul and Sam's protesting.

She spotted Bella and Edward and knocked her shoulder against Bella's.

"Hey!"

"Hey. Are they coming?" Bella said looking at the empty clearing. Grace nodded to the treeline where the vegetation was particularly thick and shaded.

"Yeah, they're right behind me."

"Oh." Bella said.

Carlisle and the rest of the Cullen's gathered in the clearing facing the treeline and Grace stood close to Bella on the Cullen's side.

Slowly, Sam emerged from the trees with the others flanking him. Some, like Seth, were told to stay back further out of sight.

"They don't trust us enough to be out of their wolf form," Edward said casually to Carlisle.

"They came. That's all that matters," Carlisle said gratefully. "Thank you for coming." he addressed the pack now. "My son Jasper has unique insight into the threat we're facing. We hope that working together, we can defeat this threat without any casualties on either of our sides. It's our best shot," he nodded and conceded the floor to Jasper.

Jasper came up from behind Grace to stand where Carlisle stood. Grace heard a distinct snap of the jowls come from the pack and Sam called to her to join them instead. Seems Jasper hadn't gotten too close for comfort. Grace rolled her eyes and jogged up to the treeline and Jasper started providing the pack with a history of newborns, their strengths, their weaknesses, and how they planned to fight them. Grace stood next to Paul who nudged her back farther behind him.

Over his shoulder, she made eye contact with Jake's wolf form. He shook his head as if being snapped back to attention and Paul made a low growling noise.

"Let me demonstrate. Emmett!" Jasper called across the clearing. Sam perked up, intrigued to finally see fighting styles in action and he communicated to the rest of the pack to pay close attention.

Through volleys and crashing at one another like boulders, they were able to understand Emmett's fighting style—he was brute strength and force. Jasper was lythe and meticulous, but ruthless.

Jasper worked his way through each of the Cullen's one by one, demonstrating how to overpower and displace certain moves or tactics. When they were finished, Jasper looked up at Sam and said,

"So, who would like to go first?" His hands were behind his back and he gave a mischievous grin.

Grace automatically raised her hand and took a step forward. She was met with a crescendo of growls and snapping down the line of wolves. Paul turned to glare at her and nudged her back again.

"Oooookay," Grace said, putting her hand down and looping it behind her back, "Not me, apparently." The Cullens laughed. Paul and Jared made their way forward, Seth coming to stand by Grace instead.

While there were a couple of close calls during the training, each wolf got a turn to fight one of the Cullen's and work on their response to unpredictable attacks. Grace was not allowed a turn.

When they turned to leave for the day, she noticed Jake take off in a different direction from the others. She made a move toward him but quickly stepped back in case Paul noticed and made a mental note to ask Quil instead.

Paul dropped her off and gave her a kiss before she went inside, "A couple more training sessions like that and we'll be their worst nightmare."

"Mmmm, I bet," Grace rolled her eyes and stood on her tiptoes to hug him.


The pack ended up training all week with the Cullen's in preparation for the fight. Alice saw the newborns coming sometime in late May, early June, so they had some time to prepare. At the end of the week, they put together a beach day at La Push to take a break from rounds and training.

Grace was relieved. She had barely seen Paul all week. Between training and finishing the renovations on his house for her, he was busy and sometimes too tired to see her at night. But they planned to spend the whole day together at the beach.

She made it to his house mid-morning with her beach bag and supplies in hand. She dropped them on the porch and skipped into the house. Paul was making pancakes by the stove and he grinned from ear to ear when he saw her.

"There you are." he said. She jumped into his arms and planted a long kiss on him.

"Whatever they say about absence makes the heart grow fonder is bullshit. Absence makes the heart miserable," she mumbled in between his lips. He chuckled and set her down, still holding a spatula in his other hand.

"This should be ready in a second," He flipped a couple more pancakes onto a plate. When he was finished, he handed her her plate and they opted to stand in the kitchen and eat wanting to be close.

"Delicious," Grace said between mouthfuls.

"Hey so, I was thinking. This weekend, maybe we start bringing some of your stuff over?" Paul said. Grace stopped chewing for a second and hesitated.

"Uh, yeah sure, that sounds good." She had forgot to mention to Bella or Charlie that she was moving out. Not because she didn't want to, but because she thought that Paul might only be half serious.

"Good." he set his plate down, "Now. We have about, mmmm, ten extra minutes? I think we can find a way to make good use of that time." He grabbed her plate from her and swiftly picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and hauling her off to the bedroom. Grace giggled, she was more than happy to oblige considering that they had barely touched each other in a week and she could feel Paul's eagerness quickly after he tossed her onto the bed and straddled her.


In true new-love fashion, they were late to the beach get-together. They strode in a half an hour late, all smiles to the applause and jibing of the pack.

"Yeah, yeah," Paul said, "Settle down."

They spent the day playing tag football on the beach, Paul intercepting Grace instead of the ball and running her up the beach, and in the water pushed up against each other as the waves pushed and pulled at them.

After settling down to eat lunch and enjoy the sun, the pack digging in eagerly to the collective spread they all brought, Grace laid back on their beach blanket and let the sun warm her. She felt so whole and so complete. Almost as complete as when she danced with Jacob.

Jacob.

Quil had told her that he had left to do reconnaissance in Seattle at the request of no one according to Sam. She had been perplexed at that, but then Quil had said in a hushed voice that he'd caught wind of her and Paul planning to move into together and just needed some time away.

He'd been gone since the very first training and it irritated Grace. That familiar pang pulsed in her stomach again at the thought of him.

Paul leaned over to kiss her softly and she opened her eyes and smiled.

"Good day so far?" he asked, running a hand down her side.

"The best," she said softly.

"Me too...I love you," he said softer leaning down so only they could hear one another.

"I love you too, Lahote," she sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him to her. Something about it felt different this time. Like something in her was shifting. She could be happy with Paul, Jacob was wrong. It wouldn't end in a mess if they just kept going together.

Grace sat up and looked out over the waves as the general chatter of the group carried on. And then, she heard a distant 'Hey!' call out from down the beach.

Quil and Sam turned to see who it was.

"Oh my god." Grace said getting to her feet and starting to run toward the woman padding down the beach. Joy erupted through her chest as she shouted out:

"Rachel!"