Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. I own twitchy fingers that enjoy writing for no profit.

Chapter 39: Mates and Morons

Bella POV

Waking up in a strange place is never a comfortable thing. First comes the sense of everything in your bedroom being in the wrong place, including the walls, until you realise that your room isn't actually your room at all, and then the disturbing, vulnerable feeling of wondering whether or not you're safe until you remember exactly where you are and who's there with you. This time was no different for the most part, except that the comforting woody scent that seemed to hover over me carried a clear 'Sam' label, even to my semi-conscious mind, so my worry about being safe ended almost before it had a chance to begin. I focused and took stock of my situation as best I could with my eyes still shut.

"Ok. Not my bedroom, so where… Oh right, Alison's house. With Sam… But this isn't the floor – too soft and comfy and I don't feel any new bruises. He must've caught me then." Realising that the slightly familiar surface underneath me was the couch, I began to try to get my eyes to co-operate and open, though it took a few attempts to manage it. I could hear Sam's breathing now that I was coming to a bit more, it was racing, as if he'd run a marathon, but from the muddled memory of the night he'd carried me home from the forest when Edward had left me there, as if I weighed nothing at all, I didn't think he'd found it a strain to carry me the few feet from the kitchen to the couch. Something else had caused it.

Perhaps the shock and worry of me passing out with no warning, but if that was the case then hopefully me waking up and letting him know I was just fine would help. I forced my eyes open, the light in the room blinding me for a moment until I was able to adjust. Glancing around quickly to confirm where I was, a part of my brain noticed that the smell of blood was almost completely gone. Surely I hadn't been unconscious for more than a few minutes, certainly not long enough for him to stop bleeding, even if he'd had time to clean himself up? I looked at his forehead. Still covered in sink crud and a little drying blood, but there was nothing more than a faint pink line where he'd cut himself. My eyebrows shot up in surprise and I looked into his eyes, wanting an explanation. But the moment our eyes met, my curiosity flew out of the window. Everything else in the world seemed suddenly unimportant compared to holding that dark brown gaze as his eyes bored into mine. The last vestiges of the tattered hole in my chest, "in my soul" my mind supplied helpfully, created when Edward had left knitted themselves closed, a perfect peace and contentment flowing through me that I'd not felt since I'd been with Edward. "Not even then really. Not to this degree." My helpful mind once again spoke up. "Close, but not quite like this." Looking at Sam suddenly felt like being home in a way it never had before. I knew without question that I'd never be more safe, more cherished, more protected, more loved than I would be while I was in Sam's presence and the astonished, awed, and adoring expression on his face told me that he was feeling some version of the same emotions too. Whether they were as strong as what I was feeling, or stronger I couldn't know, but I was no longer at all nervous about breaking the news to him that we were mates; his expression told me that whatever it was that told the shape-shifters they'd found their mate had clearly happened, and maybe I was being a little over confident, but he didn't seem exactly upset with the idea. Becoming aware that we'd been silently staring at each other like a pair of creepers, but not really sure where to start in the mammoth list of subjects we really should talk about, I cleared my throat and swallowed against the sudden dryness there.

"It wasn't." My voice croaked with the parched feeling and I stopped and tried to swallow once more before beginning again. Before I could even open my mouth though, Sam was leaping to his feet and disappearing into the kitchen, returning seconds later with a glass of water for me, an eager, almost puppyish expression on his face, I fought back a smile at the irony of that comparison and took the glass gratefully, taking a few sips to ease my throat before I tried speaking once more. I found that every time our eyes met, my thoughts seemed to drift off somewhat, the world around us slipping away and losing its importance when compared to the … everything … that Sam now was to me. As pleasant and relaxing as the feeling was, it was going to make having a serious conversation with him, or in fact with anyone else any time Sam was around, pretty difficult, so I resolved to avoid direct eye contact, at least during this conversation, as much as possible. Hopefully with time the drifting off feeling would lessen as I grew used to things, and we'd be able to hold a sensible conversation with each other without looking like drooling, empty-headed morons every time.

Unbidden, my eyes drifted down to Sam's mouth, an almost undeniable urge to kiss him grabbing me, and I found myself swaying forwards a little before I caught myself and sat back up. From past experience I knew that once we started kissing, it would escalate very quickly, and that was before this mating bond thing had snapped into place. Now that we were definitely bonded, I could only imagine just how heavy the making out would get all too quickly, and also how likely it would be that it would get out of hand and Alison would come home to catch us in a seriously compromising position. Ok, she was very open about sex in general, and her son's sex life in particular, but her catching the two of us screwing on her couch was almost certainly going to prove more than a little awkward.

In an effort to cool myself off after a few X-rated images raced through my head, I took another mouthful of water.

"It wasn't what?" Sam asked as I sipped, his forehead crinkling in confusion, sending a tiny shower of dried sink-scum and blood flakes falling from his skin. Swallowing one last mouthful of water, and silently shushing the part of my mind that was finding both his confusion and the tiny and very gross cascade of dried crap adorable of all things, I sat up fully and carefully put the glass on a nearby shelf.

"It wasn't Charlie that told me about the wolves." I told him calmly and firmly, hiding my conflicting urges to stare moronically at him, or kiss him senseless, no matter where that might lead. Despite the life-changing importance of everything else we needed to discuss, I simply couldn't allow anyone, especially not Sam, to think badly about Charlie for even a second longer. "He told me that he'd made the wolves a promise not to reveal who they were, and Charlie's like me; we don't break our promises." I watched as understanding and what I could only call relief crossed his face; it had clearly bothered him thinking that Charlie was untrustworthy and I liked the thought that Sam had such respect for my father.

"Then how could you know that I'm the Alpha?" he asked curiously, not noticing that he had with that one question given me confirmation of just who he was. Not that I'd needed it at that point.

"Oh that bit was actually the most straightforward." I laughed. "I'm actually pretty pissed with myself that it's taken me so long to work out that you were one of the shifters." He cocked his head at that, but didn't interrupt with whatever thought had just struck him so I continued. "Once I'd realised that you have a different form sometimes, it was any easy step to work out that you were in charge. You're the new chief; that had to mean something, you're the oldest of your group of friends, and from what I've translated out of the little rants Jake and Quil had about you, the others seem to defer to you naturally." I shrugged at his surprised and impressed expression. "They certainly deferred to you in wolf form, that was very clear. I mean, yes you're bigger than them, but that isn't it. You exude a calm sense of authority around them, and they all move around you in a way that makes it obvious that you're very much in charge. That's how I knew that you're the black wolf. The similarities between how the other wolves treated their leader and how the guys behave around you are too strong to miss once you know to look for it." He shook his head in astonishment, respect clear in his face.

"You really are an incredibly perceptive person, Bella," he told me. "You and Charlie both worked out about the pack by putting little bits and pieces together that I don't think anyone else would've noticed," I snorted.

"I don't know about perceptive, Sam, not in this case anyway. Normally I'm fairly quick on the uptake, but it seems to me that there have been so many really obvious signs that I missed, or more like stubbornly overlooked, having decided that certain things were undeniable facts. I should've worked it out a long time ago, but I couldn't make myself look past what I thought I knew and so I kept right on fumbling around blindly in the dark." I gave him a self-depreciating smile as he continued shaking his head at me in admiration. "He must've really been wanting to beat me around the head with a shovel," I added under my breath, forgetting for a second that Sam would be able to hear me.

"Who must've been?" He wondered. I shook my head with a gentle smile.

"I'll tell you later on, promise, but we've got a hell of a lot of other important stuff we need to talk about right now, wouldn't you say?" Accidentally meeting his gaze once again, my smile turned into a sheepish grin that matched his expression. "Great." I thought. "Cue another imbecilic staring session." Struggling to jolt myself back to some semblance of normal, I forced my mind away from beginning to catalogue every last millimetre of Sam's beautiful, chiselled face by noting the irony of the fact that despite having just been struck by lightning in the form of a soul-bond, we were sitting and politely chatting on his mom's couch.

I couldn't quite believe that after arguably the biggest moment in my life so far, and probably in his too, we'd somehow managed to get side-tracked into a discussion on Charlie, pack dynamics and we had just been on the verge of veering off even further into a talk about Taha Aki and my dreams. All of these things were important too, but I was pretty sure that almost any other two people in the world would've managed to put them on the back-burner for at least a few minutes while they discussed the most important relationship of their lives. I gave a mental snort, "Damn our senses of loyalty. Between the two of us we're always going to end up putting ourselves last." Even as I thought it, it didn't quite ring true. Sure I was probably always going to put myself last in any equation, it was just a part of who I was, but already I knew that the same wouldn't hold true for my relationship with Sam; even with as new as it was, I knew without question that in the future that relationship was going to be right at the top of my priorities. From now on, Sam deserved nothing less from me.

Now that we were both on the same page, or close to it anyway, regarding where we stood with each other, I'd thought that it would be easy to talk about us being mates, but in actual fact, it was just as hard to find the right way to begin. I sat there with my mouth agape for a few moments, searching for the right words and trying not to be sucked back into staring at him like a mouth-breathing cretin, but luckily Sam could see my struggle and, shaking off his own stupor from staring into my eyes, jumped in ahead of me.

"So, I don't know exactly how much of the bond is felt from your end, or how intense it might be, probably something we should talk about at some point, but I'm fairly sure you felt something pretty intense just now. Maybe I should begin by explaining it from the pack perspective." I smiled at him and patted the seat next to me; it seemed like this talk might last a while and not only did it look uncomfortable for him on the floor, but also I had no idea how long Alison might be and her walking in to find her son kneeling at my feet could easily be misread, creating a situation possibly even more awkward than her catching us writhing naked on her furniture.

Sam smiled back at me and took the seat I offered, catching my hand in one of his. It was a strange sensation, touching him. I was suddenly part of him but still myself. I was safe and secure, at peace, yet desperate to get more physical contact, but at the same time, the contact seemed to help me concentrate on our conversation rather than just stare at him in wonder, so I shuffled a little closer in my own seat, lifting his hand and arm, then turning myself so that I could nudge my shoulder under it and settle my head against his chest. His slow, even, strong heartbeat steadied me even more and I sighed gently, feeling him relax into the contact, an answering sigh telling me I'd made a good move.

"Ok then that sounds sensible." I told him. "I know a little about this kind of bond from talking with Carlisle Cullen, but I'm pretty sure it's different for them than it will be for us, and I'd like to know what you've learned about it from your side." I'd expected the tensing I felt from him at my mention of the Cullens, so I simply stroked his hand idly, the sensation drawing his attention away from the thought of vampires and back to me, and his tension melted away almost instantly. I smiled to myself, pleased that I'd already found a way to soothe him when needed.

"We call it imprinting." Sam went on. "The wolfy part of us recognises his mate and sort of latches on. We've always been told that it happens in an instant when the wolf first makes eye contact with his imprint, but" he squeezed my hand, "clearly that's not entirely accurate." I decided to wait until he'd finished talking to explain to him why our bond hadn't taken instantly like he'd been told it should. If I kept interrupting we'd never get anywhere with this conversation, and I was fairly sure that Alison didn't know about him being a shape-shifter, so we couldn't exactly keep talking once she got back. "For us, once we make eye contact, the whole world, the whole universe shifts, and our imprint suddenly becomes the center of it all. Nothing is more important to me now than you and your safety, your happiness. Not myself, not my mom, not the pack, not the tribe, nothing. Once an imprint takes place, both our wolf and human sides become completely devoted to being exactly what our imprint needs us to be for them. Protector, supporter, lover, friend, brother, father. It doesn't matter; whatever you need from me, that's exactly what I'll be. What I want to be. For you."

He hugged me a little closer to him on those last two words, and I was glad for the extra contact. It was an incredibly intense declaration, at the same time reassuring and yet a massive responsibility. In taking charge of mine, he was essentially handing his own safety and happiness over to me for safe keeping. If he was not just willing, but now programmed to put me first above himself, in whatever form I needed him, I could certainly do nothing less for him in return. I'd already experienced one intense yet wildly unequal relationship, and I wasn't about to let this one follow the same path. Besides, I found myself wanting and needing to do for him what he was doing for me, not just to prevent a repeat of my last relationship with Edward, but also just because he was Sam and now suddenly that equated to everything in my head, and in my heart. "And in your soul." My ever helpful mind reminded me, although the voice sounded suspiciously Taha Aki-like to me. "Shush." I told my mind, just in case, and I refocused on Sam so as not to miss anything.

"I can't explain either why we didn't imprint before, or why we have now." He went on, his voice holding a slight edge of confused frustration. "Something else we've always been told is that imprinting is for the purpose of creating a stronger pack, like picking the right stud dog to breed better puppies." He snorted derisively "Yet unless there's a few skeletons hanging in the Swan family closet, I'm pretty sure you don't have any Quileute blood of any kind in you, let alone blood from one of the pack lines, so I'm guessing the breeding thing isn't right either." He paused for a moment in thought. "Actually I'm kind of relieved about that, for two reasons, the main one being that I really don't like the idea of being a stud dog. I'll tell you about the other reason another time." I nodded my acceptance, my cheek rubbing lightly on his firm chest, and he went on. "So that's about where we stand on the imprinting thing but, Bella, one thing you need to understand very clearly; wolves mate for life, we're completely monogamous, and even before now I've had moments when my wolf has been seriously pissed just because someone has touched you. Like today when Mom grabbed your arm. I had to really fight to keep my wolf's reaction down, he wanted me to run out here and pull you away from her." I giggled a little and he turned his head, nudging at my forehead with his chin to get me to turn and look at him. Thankfully, I was able to keep the drooling imbecile within at bay, as one side of his mouth turned up in a little smile. "What's so funny, Baby?" he asked, and my heart beat a little faster at the endearment.

"Oh nothing really." I told him with a little shrug. "It's just that I could've sworn I'd heard a growl or two coming from the kitchen when Alison grabbed my wrist, now I know why." He blushed a little and looked sheepish.

"Damn. I thought I'd managed to keep that quiet enough. I hope Mom didn't hear it." A sudden thought made itself known in his expression. "Oh shit yeah, that reminds me." He said quickly. "Mom doesn't know about the pack or about me, and I'm not allowed to tell her, so you can't either, ok?" I frowned but nodded in acceptance. It didn't seem at all fair to me that he was out there, putting his life on the line for his pack, putting any dreams he might've had for his future in the garbage, and yet he wasn't even allowed to share this life completely with his only other family member. A sudden realisation crashed over me.

"That's the reason for Alison and you falling out, isn't it?" I asked, trying to sit up properly to look at him, the words bursting out of me with indignation at the injustice of it all. "You were having to take on all those pack duties, disappearing off at weird times and not able to give her answers when she asked you what was going on, and so she finally just got sick of it." As much as I liked Alison, the unreasonableness of her kicking out her only child just because he couldn't tell her that he'd been out keeping the tribe safe really grated at me. Sam stroked the back of my hand in soothing circles with his thumb, much as I had done for him a few minutes before and the result was much the same, I felt a lot calmer and relaxed against him once more.

"You really are amazing, Baby." He said in awe. "So quick to see what's going on." I blushed strongly at the compliment, ducking my head to try and hide it, but from his chuckle I guessed that I hadn't managed it. "So beautiful when you blush." He murmured into my hair, pressing a kiss against my temple. "That was a part of the problem, yes. But the worse crime in Mom's eyes was me breaking up with Leah for no good reason that either of them could see. That, combined with my suddenly weird and secretive behaviour had my Mom convinced I was beginning to turn out just like Joshua. My Father." He added before I could ask. "I couldn't explain to either of them what was going on, so the rift between Mom and I became huge and I moved out of here and into my place." We both sat quietly for a few minutes. For myself, it was because I was trying to fight back my anger at Leah for making the problems between Sam and Alison worse and at Alison for taking someone else's side against her own son.

The strength of my anger took me by surprise; before my pit of depression and 'zombie-Bella', I'd not been the type to anger easily, nor this strongly, and when I was angry, it always seemed hard-wired to my tear ducts; However, once I'd climbed out of my pit, I'd had flares of anger a little more often, and I'd somehow managed to channel them into some pretty impressive tirades at the offender, without a sign of tears, but the anger I'd felt was nothing compared to this white-hot surge against people who'd hurt my Sam. Realising that I was coming close to doing or saying something rash in my fury, and not wanting to bad-mouth Alison "who" I reminded myself "you actually like." I breathed carefully in through my nose and out through my mouth, following my usual meditation pattern and allowing the strong and alluring scent of Sam to add to the calming effect. My heart-rate slowed back down and my thoughts became calmer and more reasonable, reminding me that I didn't know every little detail of the story, and that I should bear in mind that Sam refused to refer to his father as 'Dad', which provided heavy hints that the man truly had been a nasty piece of work, so if Alison had worried that Sam was heading that way himself, maybe distancing herself from him was for self-preservation. Another thought struck me and I leant my head back to look at Sam's face once again.

"So you broke it off with Leah because you knew she wasn't your imprint, and you were trying to save both of you the grief of maybe being torn apart later on if you did imprint, am I right?" I guessed, fairly sure of the answer before he could give it. He shook his head in wonder, his gaze becoming filled with that almost uncomfortable awe and adoration again.

"Amazing." He murmured, his kiss landing high up on my cheek this time. "It took you just seconds to work that one out, huh?" I blushed again, unsurprised when it drew another affectionate chuckle from him.

"It wasn't exactly a hard conclusion to come to." I protested. "The facts were pretty easy to see. Especially when I add in the things you said on our date in Port Angeles." His forehead crinkled in that totally, not even slightly adorable way again. "When you were being so careful to make sure that I knew you weren't looking for anything serious or long-term." I explained. "Now I can see why you were being so cautious; you didn't want to see me ending up hurt, just like you tried to protect Leah. Adding those two things together only leaves one conclusion." This time it was my forehead that was crinkling. "Although I can't really see why you bothered to run the risk with me of all people, I'm glad that you did." I stretched up to plant a kiss of my own on Sam's cheek, the heat of his skin against my lips setting off that now familiar tingling sensation that I'd come to really love. As I went to turn my cheek back against his chest though, Sam grasped both my shoulders in a firm yet gentle hold. He bent his neck to bring his face closer and completely level with mine and his dark eyes bored into mine, reinforcing his next words with his absolute sincerity.

"You don't see yourself clearly, Bella. Not the way I do, and so many others too." He frowned. "Much as I'd wish they didn't." he added under his breath. "You are, without question, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and the most beautiful person inside that I've ever known. You have these melted chocolate eyes that I wish I could swim in, perfect, creamy white skin that I want to lick all over every time I think about it." I carefully avoided describing his expression at that moment as 'wolfish' to myself. "You have an innocence and kindness about you that calls out to people, making them want to know you, your heart is so loving and loyal that those of us who earn a place in it should be forever grateful that we've been given such a privilege." By this point my entire face was burning, but still he didn't let up. "You're generous and giving to the people around you, whether it's your dad, or the kids at the drop-in centre, you're unselfish and fierce, and literally the bravest person I've ever met in my life; the way you threw yourself into danger to protect your mom and Charlie – you're a fucking warrior, Baby. So brave. Stupid, but brave." He gave a little grin at my clear irritation at that comment, and I tore my eyes away from his, a little pissed that he thought my actions in keeping Renee ad Charlie safe were stupid, but Sam pressed on regardless. "You have an amazing sense of humour, a wicked tongue when provoked, a forgiving nature, a determination that is just beyond belief at times, you've got great taste in movies and music, you're an amazing cook, you laugh at yourself when you're embarrassed, and you're without doubt, hands down the best lover I've ever had." As red as my face had already been, apparently it could still get redder, my blush now covering face, neck and chest. Sam let go of my shoulders and sat back, leaning into the corner of the couch, his eyes wandering all over my face and a warm smile fixed firmly on his. Fighting the urge to hide my face in my hands in embarrassment at his onslaught of compliments, I dragged my eyes up to meet his, not even caring if I'd lose myself in a Sam induced haze. I just needed to see the sincerity there that I'd seen when he started talking.

There it was. As lost as I was becoming in his gaze, there was no mistaking the burning intensity there. He sincerely meant every single word, and while it was possible, or even probable that it was the soul-bond, or imprint as he called it, talking, right at that moment I just didn't care.

Earlier that day, on the beach, after I'd realised that I was his mate, I'd questioned whether or not I loved Sam yet. Whether he could love me yet. Both questions were now completely moot; I was unquestionably in love with the man, and the look in his eyes, that searing, piercing look gave me no room to doubt that he felt exactly the same way about me. I started to lean in to kiss him, not giving a shit right then if it did get out of control and Alison walked in on us, and was relieved when he did the same. When I was barely an inch away, he cocked his head a little and his eyes darted towards the door, and before I could make contact he sat back a little and clearing his throat, he shrugged at me and a cheeky grin crossed his face.

"Besides." He added with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "I hear you've got no gag reflex and I'm looking forward to the benefits." It took me a few seconds to puzzle through what benefits there could be to my lack of gag reflex, and the second I figured it out I burst into flame all over again, the heat pouring off my bushing face. At that second the front door burst open, revealing a livid Alison, and through Sam's roaring laughter I could just make out her words as she berated her son.

"Samuel Levi Uley! You can't end the most romantic thing I've ever heard one person say to another like that! It's a total travesty!" She ranted, driving Sam's laughter higher as he crossed his arms across his stomach against the pain his hysterics were causing. Belatedly realising that Sam must've heard her outside the door just before we'd kissed and had realised that she'd been eavesdropping, which was why he'd added that last little comment to the end of his declaration, I began to giggle myself. The added relief of the break in the intense atmosphere that had swirled around us moments before was soon pushing me to hysterics right along with him. Alison simply stood there, looking back and forth between the two of us in confusion. Her irritated expression left her and a bemused smile replaced it as, shaking her head at our antics, she placed my truck keys and cell charger on the coffee table and stalked off into the kitchen, muttering about crazy young people and inappropriate sons who ruined perfectly romantic speeches for no good reason.

Several minutes later, when Sam and I had managed to calm our laughing back down to manageable levels, he reached over and lightly squeezed my knee.

"You get your cell up and running and call Charlie, Bella, and I'll go calm my mom down. We'll have to finish this up later." I put my hand over his and our fingers automatically laced together, my pale skin contrasting vividly with his russet tones.

"I guess you probably should." I agreed, not really wanting to have him out of sight right then, nor even out of reach for that matter, but Alison was still grousing half-heartedly from the kitchen and I didn't know her well enough to guess whether she was serious or not, besides which, I really needed to get a hold of Charlie and let him know I was ok before he started tearing the Rez apart looking for me. As Sam gave my knee one last pat, the stood up, still glancing at me over his shoulder as he left the room, I pulled myself to my feet, more bone weary after my incredibly long day than I had realised after all the drama of Sam and I bonding and, spotting a free outlet behind an armchair, I grabbed my cell and charger and plugged in, waiting a moment for there to enough charge for the inevitable message alerts to start pinging at me. Sure enough, after less than a minute, ping after ping could be heard from the phone, letting me know, as if I hadn't already guessed that Charlie was desperate to get hold of me.

"Wow. Eight voicemails and fourteen texts, that's not good." I muttered to myself, skipping through all but the latest text to give me an idea of just how my upcoming phone call with Charlie was going to go. The last of the texts he'd sent was brief and to the point, lessening my worry that Charlie was thinking the worst by this time. It simply read.

"At clinic. Harry's stable & doc says he'll pull through. Billy says you're at Alison Uley's so guess I can stop worrying now. Talk about that later. Proud of you, Bells."

I gulped back the tears that threatened at that last sentence. Though more recently he had made great efforts to talk about more emotional things with me, Charlie was still very uncomfortable with any kind of sentimental expression, which made his simple but heartfelt statement of pride all the more touching. His threat that we would be talking later about how he'd worried over me was a little disconcerting, but really I couldn't be blamed for not contacting him in the circumstances, surely? "I guess I'd better call him straight away anyway, to try and smooth things over a little." I thought, pulling up his number and pressing send. It barely even rang a single time before Charlie picked up, and said urgently;

"Bella?" He sounded so relieved to hear from me and I felt a small stab of guilt, despite my lack of contact being unavoidable.

"Hi Dad. Sorry, my cell battery died and Alison went back to get my truck for me so I could have my charger and call you." I figured it would be for the best to get that in right at the beginning to head off any trace of anger that he might have had over me worrying him. He let out a heavy sigh and I could almost see him running a hand over his tired face.

"It's ok, Bells, But you are seriously going to have to make sure you have your cell fully charged before you leave the house from now on; especially with the threat from this vampire female hanging over us at the moment, it's just not responsible to be without a means of communication right now." He had a good point and I had no intention of arguing with him over it. I was getting off fairly lightly bearing in mind how worried he must've been, judging by the number of messages and missed calls.

"I'll make a point of it from now on." I reassured him. "So Harry's stable now?" I asked, shifting the conversation onto a new, more comfortable track. "Have you seen him?"

"Not properly. Billy and I looked in through the door just before we left the clinic to let Sue know we were leaving and to see if she needed anything. He looked so pale and small lying there, Bells. And so old. If that's how he look now he's stable, I can't imagine how he must've looked while you were giving him CPR." He sighed again "Billy and I just got back to his place and then I'm stopping in at the Clearwater's to pick up a few things for them and drop them off at the clinic on my way home. Have you eaten?" As soon as he asked, my stomach let me know just how hungry I'd become without realising it. I really didn't feel up to cooking though, now that the fatigue of the day was setting in. "No, not yet. Dad I'm sorry, but I'm so tired, can we get take-out tonight?" I asked, knowing before I spoke what his reply would be.

"Sure, Bells. Pizza?" He asked. I was right on the money.

"Again?" I sighed and was about to reluctantly agree when he chuckled.

"No. I guess you're right, I do eat too much pizza and Harry's situation today has made me re-think my diet and how healthy it isn't unless you're cooking. How about I stop in at the diner on the way back and grab something from there. I know it's not exactly the healthiest option around, but it's at least better than another greasy, cheese filled pizza, and I'll even order a couple of salads to go with whatever I pick for us." I smiled to myself, wondering how long Charlie's health kick would last before he was back to using the speed dial button on his phone that connected him to the pizza place.

"Sounds great, Dad." I had a sudden thought. "But could you grab enough for three? I'm going to ask Sam to run me home in a few minutes and he's not eaten yet either." Hearing that, Sam poked his head around the kitchen door and looked at me, a little surprised. I raised a brow at him and he nodded. I couldn't help but feel pleased that we were already able to communicate at least a little without words.

"You need someone to drive you? Are you sure you're ok, Bells? Are you hurt? Or has something hap…" There was a new edge of worry to his voice to I quickly interrupted to head it off.

"No, no. I'm fine, Dad. Just incredibly tired after everything that's happened today. I figured it would be more sensible to have someone else drive me."

"Good idea, Bells. Ok then I'll see you at home in an hour or so?" He sounded pretty tired himself, but I could still hear his relief that I was really ok.

"Sure, Dad. I'll see you there. Say hello to Sue, Leah and Seth for me would you? And tell them I hope Harry's back on his feet soon."

"Will do, Bells. Though I'm guessing that the Clearwaters will be in touch with you themselves as soon as they're confident that Harry's on the mend. Even though I only had a few moments to talk with each of them, none of them could stop telling me what a wonderful thing you'd done and how grateful they were." My blush sprang back up; even coming via Charlie, the praise was a little uncomfortable. Giving a wry chuckle I asked

"Even Leah?" He snorted.

"Even Leah. Right, I'm going to say bye to Billy and head out. Bye Bells. Tell Alison I said thanks for dragging you over to hers would you?" I rolled my eyes.

"Ok, Dad. Bye." Over the click of Charlie hanging up I could hear Sam chuckle under his breath and I turned to see he was now sprawling comfortably on the couch, looking at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes again, at him this time and, casting a quick glance around to make sure Alison was out of earshot, I quietly murmured "So I guess you heard all of that?"

"Yeah." He confirmed. "So looks like we'll be able to fill Charlie in on our new development sooner rather than later then?" The hesitancy in his voice made me pause, wondering what had caused it. I searched his face, narrowly avoiding looking straight in his eyes, and saw the same uncertainty reflected there. "Of course!" I realised, "only a few minutes ago he recited a list of why he cares about me, making his own feelings pretty clear, but Alison interrupted before I could tell him that I feel the same. And before that he told me that he told me that he was pretty much programmed to be whatever I need him to be, and he may be reasonably sure about what that is, but until I tell him, he can't be certain." Steeling myself against the inevitable loss of intellect, I stared deliberately into his eyes.

"Yes." I told him in a calm voice despite my hammering heart and spinning mind, "We'd better tell him as soon as possible or he'll be wondering why I'm hanging all over you and not able to stop myself from touching you all the time." I gave him a rueful smile which turned into a full grin at the relief apparent in his face. "And we're lucky in that he'll actually understand exactly what it means so hopefully we won't be catching too much grief when I keep staying over at your place as often as I figure I'm going to." Sam's relieved expression melted into his gorgeous wide grin, lighting up his whole face and once again stunning me with how truly beautiful he was. I completely lost the battle to keep my wits about me and the two of us were lost, staring into each other's eyes for several minutes before Alison's voice reached us.

"SAM!" Her voice was exasperated, and as I jolted back to reality I briefly wondered how many times she'd called his name before we'd broken our trance. Looking just as unfocused as I felt myself, Sam tore his eyes away from mine and looked over my head at Alison.

"Finally!" She scolded. An amused edge slipping into her voice under the irritation. "I was beginning to think I was going to have to set a bomb off beside you before I got you attention." Sam rolled his eyes at her and my face, predictably, burst into flames but I privately thought she wasn't exaggerating by much. "I was asking if Bella and you wanted to stay here and eat with me?" Clearing my slightly hoarse throat I spoke up.

"Sorry, Alison, I just got off the phone with my dad and told him we'd both eat over there with him this evening." I glanced up at the clock. "In fact, we'd better be leaving any minute now if we're going to get back before he does so I can get changed. I ran my eyes over Sam's appearance, "And if you're going to have time to clean up first we'd really better get moving." Both Sam and Alison chuckled at that and Alison grimaced in mock revulsion as Sam leaned over to kiss her cheek. A few goodbyes later and we were climbing into my truck, my fatigue making the climb up into the passenger seat a real trial. We stopped briefly at Sam's place, while he ran in and grabbed some clean clothes to change into at mine and then we set off again, a warm and comfortable silence fell over us as we drove. Once again, the exhaustion from the events of the day settled over me and, resting my head against the window I drifted off to sleep.

Well there you go, you patient people; *now* we're getting somewhere, eh?!

Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to leave me reviews, they're always appreciated, even when I have to fight to make the "reply" button work, which seems to happen a lot. Sorry if I didn't reply to yours, I do try to respond to them all but sometimes technology doesn't want to co-operate with me. Next chapter is already halfway done, so hopefully I won't be leaving you hanging for too long. :0)