The Sister

Chapter 13

"Thanks for the dinner invite," Sam smiled as he walked through his front door. He was a little surprised to hear Paul tell him there were four people in his house eating his food. Considering it was Beth's idea and she seemed to have made herself at home there; he was actually quite happy about it. She had come to his house instead of Billy's and he was glad for that.

"I saved you food," Beth offered with an apologetic smile.

"Okay, your forgiven," he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I smell of oil," Beth said brushing at her hair.

"You smell delicious." Sam smiled taking the seat next to her.

"Well, I'm glad you like the smell of burger fat. I can save so much on perfume now." Beth smiled bumping Sam's shoulder. Kim giggled looking across the table at the pair.

"You two are really cute together." She commented at Beth's questioning gaze. "Why didn't I know you were together?" Kim asked. Beth and Sam both froze for a second and Jared cleared his throat.

"Come on Kim, it's time to get you home," Jared said to Kim, standing up.

"So soon?" Kim asked, looking up at him with disappointment.

"It's almost 1am Kim." Jared said pointedly.

"What! Come on let's go!" Kim jumped up and dragged him towards the front door.

"Bye guys," Jared said, laughing as he stumbled behind Kim.

"Well, I am stuffed and ready for sleep. Thank you for the food, Beth." Paul said standing up.

"No problem. Have a good night, Paul," Beth said, offering him a wave.

"Same to you guys," Paul said leaving them alone. Beth collected the plates off the table stacking them by the sink as Sam ate his dinner. As she washed the dishes, she caught Sam openly staring at her.

"Watcha thinking?" She asked, staring back at him.

"About what you told Paul earlier, the stuff about Leah," Sam said. Beth paused, confused about what he was talking saying.

"I'm sorry, I'm not following you," she said drying her hands and going to sit down next to him.

"He showed me what you said about Leah and the baby. Beth you're allowed to have feelings about it." Sam told her.

"He showed you?" Beth questioned. Trying to understand fully what he was saying and avoid the topic of conversation.

"We can read each other's thoughts, see what each other sees. It's a wolf thing," Sam explained.

"Hu. I guess I just thought you guys barked at each other. Reading minds would definitely be an easier way to talk," Beth nodded, acting like it wasn't weird even though it did freak her out a little.

"Beth, if you have feelings on the situation, I want you to talk to me about them. Not bottle them up to come out later." Sam said, reaching out to touch her arm. "If you're angry, you can tell me."

"Who am I meant to be angry at Sam? You? Leah? The baby? I'm not overly comfortable with the situation that's for sure. I feel bad for Leah, I know being a single mum isn't easy. I know this situation will look very strange for on lookers when other people find out about it. But that's their problem. I don't know how I'm meant to feel about it Sam but I can't be upset that two people in a long-term relationship have sex and made a baby. That would be crazy," Beth said. They stared at one another for a long moment. Sam couldn't finish his food, even though he was starving he felt sick. He stood up wrapping up his plate and putting it into the fridge for later. He leant against the counter looking down at Beth.

"Thank you," Sam whispered, catching Beth off guard.

"For what?" She asked, looking up at him.

"For being you, for being way too understanding," Sam said. Beth stood up and hugged him close.

"Sam this is no one's fault. We, including Leah, are all going to have to work out a way to make this work. And we will." She reinsured him.

"I have no idea what I'm going to tell her." Sam shook his head. He had run through the conversation with Leah in his mind a thousand times and there was no way she would not be mad at some point in it.

"We will work it out, together and hey; you could just tell her you turn into a giant wolf and kill vampires. Then she will call the authorities and get you locked up because you sound insane. You won't even have to tell her about us." Beth suggested, smiling up at him.

"Great plan let's go with that," Sam laughed pressing a kiss to her temple. "I have to get back out there. Are you okay here alone?"

"I'm fine Sam. I'm going to have a quick shower then go straight to sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow," Beth said reluctantly letting go of him.

"Sleep well Lizzy," Sam said giving her one last kiss before heading out into the cold night. A few hours later she heard Sam's heavy footsteps as he trudged up the hallway and flopped into bed. She slept better knowing the was only a room away.

Beth was right, the next day was long. Four hours of broken sleep was definitely not a good enough amount. She dropped Juliet off at daycare before going to work. The day was busy compared to the previous one. She survived both her shifts thanks to a constant supply of coffee keeping her awake.

She returned to Sam's that night, even when he wasn't their the place was comforting. Sam took an hour break to spend with Beth after she arrived home, they had dinner together and spent some time cuddled up together on the couch. Jared was on shift for a while and Sam should have been sleeping while he had the chance. But regardless of how tired he was spending time with Beth was better then any nap could ever be.

"You know you could quit your job right? You and Juliet could move in here and the council would even pay you for cooking for the pack." Sam suggested.

"I can't do that to the Clearwater's," Beth said quickly.

"Harry was actually the one to suggest the idea to me. He can see how tired you are. He's worried about you," Sam said. Beth had a permanent set of black bags under her eyes, and he would like to see them disappear.

"I could probably cut back a few shifts, but I don't know about leaving it all together." Beth liked working, keeping busy.

"Wouldn't you love to spend more time with Julie?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer was yes.

"I'll think on it," Beth replied. He was offering her something she had wanted for ages, but she also didn't want to put all her eggs in this one basket. A small part of her still worried this could end any day and Sam would stop having feelings for her.

"Thank you," he whispered pulling her close and burying his head in her neck, savouring her scent. He pulled back and pressed a kiss to her lips. Elizabeth felt her heart flip in her chest and melted into Sam's side. "I love you," he whispered as he pulled away from the kiss. Beth momentarily frozen at his words, he spoke again before her flight reflex kicked in. "You don't have to say it back."

"Sorry I just wasn't expecting you to say that," Beth said. They were words she had waited years to hear a man say. She wanted to say the words back, but she knew there was no coming back from that.

"That's okay, I just wanted to say it out loud." Beth didn't say anything after that. She felt bad not being able to say those words back to him. They sat in silence, it wasn't awkward silence, just silence. Beth eventually fell asleep, curled up to Sam. He waited a while before carrying Beth upstairs and tucking her into bed.

Beth woke earlier then planned thanks to a well rested toddler shaking her crib. She was surprised to find herself in bed. Beth was sure she hadn't fallen asleep there.

"Mama!" Julie squealed loudly. For such a small person she could make a lot of noise.

"I'm up, I'm up," she said, sitting up with a yawn.

Beth wondered down the stairs, still partly asleep. She paused when her eyes landed on the kitchen. It was spotless, no dirty dishes in sight. Now she was sure there had been a tower of dishes at the sink last night. She had expected them to still be waiting for her, but Sam must have taken care of them. She put Juliet in her highchair and gave her a bottle of milk to suck on while she prepared breakfast. Beth made a large batch of pancake batter and had made dozens of them by the time Sam woke.

"Good morning," he said to the pair. He ruffled Juliet's hair and kissed her mother's cheek. Beth smiled up at him. She could get use to this every morning. He thought the same thing. That moment was the highlight of Beth's day as the rest of it dragged out. Sam patrolled all day while the others were both at school. Beth thought her limited sleep was hard, but she knew it was nothing compared to what Sam was doing. She longed for the weekend so they could both rest.

The week dragged on to the point she though it would never end. When her shift finally finished Friday night, she was so relieved she could have cried. She knew in that moment she was ready to step back from work and would tell Harry on Monday she wanted less shifts. She wasn't ready to give it up, but she couldn't keep going like this. Juliet was having tantrums all week and she was sure it was from all the jostling and changes.

That night Sam sat on the couch watching as Juliet wondered around the lounge room with her wooden trolly in front of her. There was a teddy bear in the trolly, and she babbled away to it. He smiled watching her. He hadn't seen much of her through the week and had missed her. Juliet had woken up tonight and Beth wasn't able to get her back to sleep. So, she was hoping some play time would wear her out. So far it didn't seem to be working.

"Dinner will be ready soon," Beth said dropping down beside Sam and he wrapped an arm around her. "Leah finally told her parents about the baby. They took it as well as could be expected." Elizabeth said, feeling Sam tense up at the topic change.

"I still don't know how we are going to tell her," Sam said. He watched Juliet play. It was hard for him to believe he would have a little person like her to look after soon. But they wouldn't be like her. That little person wouldn't have Beth's eyes, or smile. They wouldn't be Beth's. He knew that was what held him back. He was happy to be a father, but he wanted Beth to be the mother. Nothing he could do would change the fact she was not the one carrying his first born.

"It's only going to be harder the longer we let it go." Beth warned.

"Next weekend," Sam said, not wanting to let it wreck this weekend. It had been a long week for both of them and he wanted to enjoy time with his girls.

"Okay, we will work out a way to meet up with her then. On other news I will be telling Harry on Monday I am ready to go back to less hours," Beth said.

"Really?" Sam asked, surprised she had come around to the idea so fast.

"Yeah, I don't want to give it up fully, but I would like to spend more time with Julie. With you."

Author notes***

A long filler chapter with lots of talking and feelings, I hope it wasn't to boring. Thank you to those of you who are reading this. A review would be much appreciated. Good or bad I want to hear your thoughts.