Chapter 19: Interruptions

I sat on the couch, twisting my ring on my finger as we anxiously awaited Sue's arrival. I'd initially had my suspicions that Paul had orchestrated this—to innocently ask Sue to come over while he knew I was here so that I could finally meet her, but that theory was squashed when I saw how anxious he looked about it.

I heard the elevator door ding open on his floor and braced myself to meet the person that I'd been most anxious about—one of the most important people in Paul's life.

Her gentle knocks at the door came all too quickly and Paul glanced at me before opening the door for her.

An older woman with inky black hair and a thin face stood on the other side of the door, holding a container filled with what looked like a type of stew. She wrapped an arm around Paul and pressed a motherly kiss to his cheek.

"I made your favourite," she said, handing him the container. "I wanted to drop it off for you before it got cold."

"Thanks, Sue. Come in."

She smiled warmly at him and stepped into the apartment, finally noticing me sitting on the couch. Her dark eyes widened in surprise for an instant before she quickly recovered and sent the same warm smile to me.

"Sue, this is—"

"Natalie," she finished for him.

I stood from the couch and returned her smile, still too anxious to really say anything to her. Sue approached me and and instead of going for a handshake like I expected, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.

I met Paul's eyes over her shoulder and noticed him stiffen slightly—he knew how difficult it was for me to keep my self control in check around humans and yet as I shallowly inhaled, I had no desire to feed from her. Her blood didn't affect me at all.

What affected me, though, was how motherly her embrace felt.

It had been decades since I'd felt the love that a mother could provide and it caught me off guard, but I felt completely at ease as she held me.

She stepped away from me, but kept her hands on my shoulders and I saw tears twinkling in her eyes. "Leah told me what you did for her and I want to thank you for that."

"Oh—you don't have to thank me for that," I said quickly.

"No, I do," she said firmly. "Leah hasn't been the same since Harry's passing and after you told her what he said, I feel like I got my daughter back."

"I really appreciate you saying that," I said quietly.

"Are you two coming to the bonfire this weekend?" Sue asked.

I glanced at Paul, questioning him with my eyes. He exhaled deeply. "I don't know, Sue…it might not be the best idea."

"If anyone says anything to Natalie, they'll have to answer to me," she said firmly. "She's your imprint—that means she belongs at our gatherings just as much as anyone else does."

"Yeah, tell that to Jared," Paul muttered, rolling his eyes.

"He'll come around," Sue said gently.

"I'm not sure if he will," Paul said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his tone.

"He will," Sue assured him. "He's stubborn, so it'll take some time, but he will eventually."

I stayed quiet—I'd had minimal interaction with Jared since arriving to La Push and I was sure that Paul had something to do with that. I could only assume that in the couple weeks that I'd been here, he hadn't budged on his opinion of me, no matter how much Paul tried to change it.

"I should get going," Sue said. She turned back to me and squeezed my shoulders. "You should come to the bonfire, okay?"

"I'll think about it," I said, smiling warmly at her. She let go of me and gave Paul another hug before exiting the apartment.

Paul locked the door behind her and turned back to me. "That went well."

"Better than I expected it to," I said. He went into the kitchen and poured some of Sue's stew into a bowl and began spooning it into his mouth. "Your favourite, huh?"

He chuckled. "Honestly, I think it's everyone's favourite on the Res."

"But you're her priority?"

"Of course," he said. "Have you met me?"

"Humble, too," I teased. I sat back down on the couch as he finished his bowl of stew. He washed his bowl when he was done and then joined me on the couch again.

"Now, where were we?" he asked, kissing my neck and cupping my chin in his hand.

I smiled but pulled away from him. "Why do you think me going to the bonfire would be a bad idea?"

He exhaled deeply. "At the bonfires, the elders like to tell legends and stories of the tribe."

"Legends about my kind," I said.

He nodded. "I'd love for you to go to one, but I know how uncomfortable it'd make you."

"That makes sense," I said. "And what you said about Jared…"

"Things are still pretty rough with him."

"I'm sorry," I said automatically.

"You have nothing to apologize for," he said tightly.

"I'm causing tension between you and your best—"

"If he can't accept who you are than maybe he isn't as loyal to me as I thought he was," he said firmly. "He dislikes you because of something that's completely out of your control and he seems to be unwilling to get to know you. It's his loss, not ours."

"Paul—"

"Nat, it's fine, I promise," he said.

"I just…I don't want to see you lose your best friend because of me," I said quietly.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek. "He's the one being a dick about it, not you. If that's how he's going to act, it's not my concern."

"If you're sure…"

"I am," he said firmly. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"That's the last thing I'd want to do," I laughed, peppering kisses along his neck. I gently pushed him back against the couch and continued to trail kisses from his neck to his chest. He pulled my face back up to his and kissed me deeply, our tongues moving together like a dance.

I tugged at his shirt, wanting the layers of clothing between us to vanish, but stopped when I heard his phone ringing. I broke away from him, but he pulled me back immediately. "I'm ignoring it."

He kissed me again, knotting his hands in my hair and holding me flush against him, but his phone kept ringing and he exhaled deeply.

"It sounds important," I noted.

"It's probably Sam," he practically growled. "One sec."

He rolled us over so I was laying on my back on the couch, pressed another kiss to my cheek, and went to his phone. I didn't listen to his conversation with Sam but I could tell that Paul wasn't happy with whatever he was being told. He ended the call and came back to the couch.

"You have to go, don't you?" I asked.

He nodded. "Sam's called a meeting with the whole pack so we can plan our patrol routes. I'll try to be quick."

I pecked him on the cheek and watched as he rushed out of the apartment. It felt like Paul and I were constantly being interrupted by Sam's calls and what made it even worse was that he rarely had a choice in the matter.

More than once, he'd attempted to ignore Sam's calls, but he almost always ended up caving and answering it before being called away from me because of some emergency. I thought back to Paul and my conversation about taking a trip together and the idea became more and more appealing the longer he was away from me.

The thought of renting a cabin in the mountains where we could be completely alone together without the threat of any interruptions sounded like a dream come true. I stood from the couch and went into the kitchen, where Paul and Jared had their rotating patrol schedules written on a small dry-erase board on the fridge.

I was surprised to see that Paul had a nice chunk of days off this coming week, so I sat down at Paul's desk and made quick work of booking us a place to stay in Montana on his computer. While I was booking everything and solidifying our plans, my phone rang and I furrowed my brow when I saw that Alice was calling.

"What is it, Alice?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the computer screen as I typed in my credit card information to complete the booking. "Did you run out of nail polish?"

"It's Bella, actually."

"Oh…hi, Bella," I said.

"I was just wondering if you could…help me with something," she said, keeping her voice low.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well…I want to see Jake," she began. "I don't think it's fair that I'm basically being kidnapped while Edward's away, so I thought maybe if you took me to La Push they'd know I'd be safe."

I hesitated. "I don't know, Bella…"

"Please, Natalie?" she asked. "You're the only person who fully understands both sides of it and I'm sure if the Cullens knew you were down here while I was, they'd be more comfortable with me being there."

"I'll think about it, okay?" I promised.

"That's all I'm asking for," she said, relief in her tone. "Thanks, Natalie."

We ended the call and I exhaled deeply—Bella wanted me to break her out of the Cullens' house and I couldn't say I blamed her for it.

"You'll think about what?" asked a voice from the door.

I turned and saw Paul standing there—I was surprised that I hadn't even heard him come in. "Bella wants me to orchestrate a jail break."

He approached me and wrapped his arms around me from behind, eyes on his computer. "And you're planning on taking her to a cabin in the woods?"

I laughed and leaned back against him. "No, this is for us."

"What do you mean?"

"This week, we're going to be staying here for threes nights," I said.

"Nat, I have to—"

"I already checked what days you're patrolling," I said. "I booked it for the days that you're off."

He reached over me and started clicking through the photos of the cabin we'd be staying at. "I love it, honestly."

I grinned at him. "You deserve a little vacation."

"Are you saying I look tired?" he asked, feigning offence.

"I can tell how exhausted you are," I said gently. "You need rest, otherwise you're going to get burnt out and maybe get hurt."

"You're right," he admitted. "It's just really hectic right now with what's happening in Seattle and the redhead we're chasing."

"That's why you taking this time for yourself is so important," I said. "You need to be at the top of your game for what's coming."

He chuckled. "I'm always at the top of my game."

"You know what I mean," I said with a laugh.

"Hmm…I'm not sure if I do," he said, feigning offence.

He peppered kisses along my cheek and neck, his hands travelling along the contours of my body. He lifted me out of the chair, turning me so we were facing each other and my legs wrapped tightly around his waist. He carried me into the bedroom where we made love to each other, finally able to enjoy each other's company without any interruptions.