Chapter 34:

Another One Bites the Dust

Paul

The thought of Victoria near Kelsey causes me to faze. Thank goodness Sam and Seth dragged her away just in time. Her eyes are wide, kind of scared. Scared of me.

"Holy..." she says. I start taking deep breaths and am finally able to phase back.

"I'm so sorry." I start to where Kelsey is still sandwiched between Sam and Seth. I reach out slowly towards her, trying not to scare her. She slowly extends her hand, sliding it into mine. "I'm so sorry." I repeat.

"It's okay." Her voice shakes slightly, but she looks pretty firm about it.

"No it's not."

"Paul?" Kelsey smiles slightly at me. "Do me a favor?"

"Of course. What?"

"Shut up."

Alice turns toward us. "You need to go. Now. Get Kelsey out of here. The Volturi are coming."

I take Kelsey's hand more tightly in my own, and lead her back through the trees. I hold a branch out the way for her before following her, ready to catch her if she stumbles.

"Need a minute." she gasps out about twenty minutes later. I nod and lead her over to sit on a log. She pulls out her inhaler, takes a puff on it, and then leans into my side.

"You okay?" I ask, reaching over to run my fingers through her hair.

"Yeah. I'm good. Just give me a minute."

"Take your time."

To make things easier for her, I go a few yards into the woods to faze then head back, allowing her to climb on my back.

I can still smell the lingering stench of vamp. I can also smell Kelsey's insulin, as well as the medicine in her inhaler. I can see a squirrel running up a tree about 700 feet out. I really love being a werewolf sometimes.

I enter Emily's without knocking, one arm wrapped around Kelsey's shoulders. The smell of muffins fills the whole house.

"Mmm." Kelsey murmurs. "Em's muffins are the best."

"Agreed." I steer Kelsey toward the kitchen. "How you feeling? We don't have to stay long if you don't want to." I know she's not good with crowds of people for long periods of time, especially when she's stressed.

"It's family. I can handle it."

"Okay." I press a kiss to the top of head before pulling out a chair for her.

"Hey, Emily." Kelsey smiles at Emily, who's at the counter, mixing something in a large bowl.

"Hello, Kelsey. How are you?"

"I'm good." Kelsey snags a blueberry muffin from the plate Emily sets down on the table. She absently takes a bite.

"Mmm. This is good, Em."

"Thanks." Emily smiles and returns to what she's mixing.

The rest of the pack crams into the kitchen. Everyone except Leah, who is on patrol and Jacob, who managed to get crushed by a vamp. I didn't even bother asking how it happened. Collin's not here, either, because Emily sent him to the store for something. When he returns, he's positively glowing.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Seth asks as he tears into his fourth muffin. "Drugs?"

"I imprinted!" Collin says.

"Another one bites the dust." Kelsey quips. I lightly poke her in the side and she turns to me with a teasing smile on her face. Beautiful. She sobers up pretty quickly, though. "Who was it?"

"Nevaeh."

"Which one?" Kelsey turns partially around in her chair to better see Collin.

"There's more than one Nevaeh?" Seth asks. "Weird name, if you ask me."

"Nobody did ask you, did they?" Brady says, reaching over to smack Seth in the back of the head.

"It can't be as common as Emily. I know, like, twenty other Emilys." Emily rolls her eyes. "There was always another one in my class in school. Made me hate my name for a while."

"I love your name." Sam says, leaning in to steal a kiss.

"PDA!" Embry yells. Emily throws a waded up paper towel at his head.

"I know three Nevaehs around here." Kelsey answers Seth's question.

"Really?" Quil asks from where he's raiding the fridge.

"Yeah. There's Nevaeh Johnson; she's in college. There's Nevaeh Robertson; she's a year or so younger than me. And there's Nevaeh Lang; who my friend Emma babysits sometimes. She's eight." Kelsey shrugs. "So, which one?"

"Roberson, I think." Collin looks bothered by the fact that he doesn't know her last name.

"Cool. I'm not very close to her, but she seems nice. Kind of quiet, though." Kelsey smiles at Collin.

"Thank you." Collin gives her a grateful look, to which Kelsey just waves her hand dismissively. "Any time."

I drive Kelsey home a couple hours later. She's having trouble keeping her eyes open. I leave the radio off, just enjoying the companionable silence.

I walk her up to the door, leaning down to kiss her lips. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah. You too." She reaches up, running her fingers under my eyes. "You have dark circles under your eyes."

"Yeah. I'm sorry for phasing on you today. It's just... the thought of a vamp near you makes me so..."

"Hey." Kelsey places her hand over my shaking one. The shaking slowly subsides and she smiles. "Hey. It's okay. I get it. I'd be pissed too, if I were you. And Sam and Seth got me out of the way in time. Try not to beat yourself up over it, yeah?"

"How did I get the best imprint?" I lean down to steal another kiss.

"Luck, I guess." She pulls her key from her backpack and turns to open the door. "Seriously Paul, take care of yourself. Get some sleep and don't beat yourself up over today."

"Yes ma'am." I lift my hand in a solute. Kelsey flips me off, giggling, before shutting the door. I listen to her footsteps walk deeper into the house before heading back to my truck.

Paige is pissed. She's standing in the kitchen, hands on hips, staring me down.

"Where the hell were you?"

"Camping with the gang, remember?" I reach over to ruffle her hair. She smacks my hand away.

"And you didn't invite me?" She's teasing me now, I can tell.

"What would you have done without cell service?" I tease back. "Look. I'll make it up to you. Whatever movie series you wanna marathon, whatever ice cream you want. Deal?"

"Deal."

And that's how I end up on the couch, eating triple chocolate ice cream, and watching every chick-flick Paige could think of. My sister can be evil like that. It's a great ending to a very stressful day. The only thing that would make it perfect is if Kelsey were here.

A/n: Guess who's back? I finally got a new computer, which means I can finally write again! You have no idea how much I've missed you guys! On a completely unrelated note, has anyone else read the Illuminae Files? I read it over the summer, and holy shit! Twenty out of ten, would HIGHLY recommend. The real tragedy is there is, like, no fanfic of it. I'm considering writing something for it, but don't exactly know what yet. Any ideas? Okay, I've rambled enough for now. Here's the deal: If we can get to 130 reviews by Friday, I'll update then. If not, expect the next chapter around Sunday. Later!

Lauren.

Replies to Reviews:

Twilightfanjm: Here it is, the LONG anticipated next chapter. Hope it lived to your expectations. Good news, though: no cliffy in this one. LOL. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

Royan Granger-Nott: I like to imagine the wolves hulking out when they get angry. Haha. Kelsey is based on several traits from a few friends of mine, plus my own experiences with OCD. I'm glad you like her character. My goal is to make relatable characters; I'm glad that comes through. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

E.B.49: I'm glad you're still reading my fanfic. I put a lot of effort into portraying everything correctly. I'm really glad you like this story. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

SakuraMinx743: I'm glad you love this story. All 33 chapters in one day! Wow! I'm also glad you love Paul and Kelsey. I'll be honest, the whole Jacob and Renesmee thing kinda creeps me out. It's just disturbing to think about. Also, the main relationship in the books in toxic as fuck. The sad thing is, my other family members who have read it, like it. I hope you like this chapter, too; please review and let me know.

Guest: I'm sorry you didn't enjoy my story. My facts probably are off, seeing that it's been about five years since I last read the books. They are really hard for me to read now, so I haven't gone through a complete reread or anything. I did include some of the faster healing in the story, and will keep your other feedback in mind for the future.