Hi, long time no see! Apologies for that. As always, I'm just writing what I can, whenever I can. I feel some weird pressure to make the chapters for this story at least around the 5,000 words mark and it makes posting a little slower, but I'm trying to wean myself off that idea so I can post a little more frequently. I won't keep you longer than to say thank you for coming back for more, I'm still loving writing this and I'm hopeful that I'll be a little more consistent with it.

Also, one last thing: I'm not dropping this fic or specifically writing more of others intentionally, I'm just desperately trying to write whatever the hell comes to me when I can, it just happens that a few other random bits of crap have been rattling around in my empty head as of late. That aside, please enjoy!

It was official. Skylar Monroe, as expected, was finally gone.

In all honesty, River wasn't too sure how she felt about it. Sure, it had been a couple of weeks now since the blonde had driven excitedly away from home, car packed impossibly tightly with everything she thought she would need at college. Still, with each day that passed, River's feelings remained conflicted.

Naturally, she was happy for Skylar. Truly, she was. The older girl had worked her ass off to get onto the course she'd wanted and she'd freaking done it, so of course River was proud of her and happy for her. Only, with the absence of her came something else. The missing her. Missing her ex felt all kinds of wrong. She was lucky though that Paul understood. He understood the conflict within her and didn't hold any of it against her for so much as a second. He was good like that, truly good.

Without her, the gym was quiet. Sure, Dante and Owen were still Dante and Owen, but they weren't Skylar. They were one another's best friends and they acted as such, leaving River to either work alone or to brave Jet's insanity without the blonde to share in her amusement.

Still, life went on. With each day that passed, River's training for her upcoming fight became more and more rigorous. Jet had actively set time out of her shifts to train with her, asking that she kept a food journal, logged her exercise, tracked her sleep and all other important things. Long gone were the days of cookies and hot cocoa, of lasagna, even of fish fry. In their place, protein took priority. While she didn't really have enough time to build back the muscle mass that she'd lost during her recovery period after the crash, she figured she could at least make some headway and get back into better habits.

Through every second, Paul was the picture of supportive. He started applying for jobs, having previously been lucky enough to have eaten almost all his meals from Sam and Emily. He helped River find things to curb cravings as her new diet fell into place. Hell, he even started doing odd jobs around the res in order to bring some extra money in.

While he hadn't really had too many expenses while living alone, he'd made it clear to her that he didn't plan to, in his words, "be a bum who makes his imprint earn all the money". Needless to say, the older and younger women of the res and neighboring areas were more than thrilled to have him come and mow their lawns with no shirt on. River had actually had to stifle her laughter one day when she'd arrived to pick him up from a house in Forks and had spied two older ladies sitting on one of their porches with a thermos of coffee between them, entirely unashamed, just watching him as he felled a small tree for them. Admittedly, to give them their dues, he looked fucking hot while doing it.

Ironically, the only thing that was actively stressing River out? School. That mother fucker was fast approaching. She wasn't at all worried about how she and Paul would act at school, it wasn't as if she gave a fuck about what anyone there thought about their relationship and how it had changed since they all last saw one another, but it was their senior year. She had work from last year to catch up on, reading to do, not to mention the fact that she found out that every single one of the wolves was failing almost every freaking subject. Sure, it made sense given their absences and their responsibilities, but she was oddly shocked that Sam wasn't pushing them all to do well in school. Paul had mentioned before that it didn't matter how they did since none of them would leave, but she didn't believe that. After all, they would all still need to get jobs after school.

River Nivalis was a lot of things, but she sure as shit wasn't going to let those boys fail out of school. So it was decided. Against each one of their protests, she wrangled Sam and told him that she, Leah, Emily and Kim were going to tutor the boys. Both Leah and Emily had done well enough in school, Kim was a B on average in most of her classes and River... well, River had been acing literally all of her classes before her crash. So, whether they liked it or not, those boys were all going to at least get passing grades in their classes. They could kick and scream as much as they liked, but Sam assured River that he would order their asses into seats if he had to. With the backing of their alpha, they all agreed glumly.

So, yeah, she'd given herself one hell of a senior year, packed full to the brim.

"Hey, you ready?" Paul asked, grinning at her from the couch.

Just coming from the bathroom, having made a terrible mess of her hair, River gritted her teeth and nodded. "Let's get this over with." She grumbled back, earning a boisterous laugh from him.

He clambered up from the couch, meeting her half way as she made for the door. "Oh, come on. You love having dinner with your folks." He prodded her side before dragging her into his own and planting a kiss on the side of her head, not that she really felt it through all that damned hair.

In response, a grumble mixed with a whine as they headed out to her truck together.

The beautiful beast, on the road once more thanks to her father returning the correct battery to her, was a sight for sore eyes. It was old, it had a few rusty spots and could have done with a new coat of paint about two decades ago, but it was hers and she loved it.

Together, they hopped in and left their home, headed to River's old one.

Of course, to the shock of absolutely no one, Alma was a pure whirlwind of love and excitement when the young couple arrived and headed inside. "Oh," She started. "It feels like it's been weeks since we saw you both! Doesn't it, Dick? Weeks!" She managed to wrap them both in a hug so tight that even Paul grunted a little in pure shock, giving them both a good squeeze before releasing them.

"Weeks, dear. Absolutely." Dick, however, didn't do more than look up from the TV to offer them both a warm smile and a wave. That was far more their speed, but River had honestly missed her mom's crazy-good hugs.

On the second couch, Brooke snickered in response to their dad's entire lack of enthusiasm while agreeing with his wife. She offered no greeting further than, "S'up, nerd. Nerd's boyfriend." It was oddly perfect.

As River was whisked off into the kitchen to be shown the food that Alma was cooking, Paul went straight over to Dick. For some reason, every time they'd gone over, which had been two to three times a week for the past three weeks, Paul had made a point of fondly shaking Dick's hand upon arrival. River didn't really see any need for it as far as formalities went, but the two of them seemed oddly pleased shaking one another's hands and talking about sports, so River said nothing.

In the kitchen with her eldest, Alma began with her myriad stories about what she'd been up to during the past few days.

River heard about it all. She heard about who on the res wanted their houses painting, the gossip from the other moms that Alma had run into at the store, even news that her mom had decided to start selling some of her paintings. Apparently Brooke had been educating her in the magical world of social media and how it could help businesses if they just advertised correctly. Hey presto, some hard work later and their loving mother had gotten a grand total of five followers online and was now intent on keeping all five of them thoroughly entertained and updated on all of her work.

As odd as it may have seemed, River was actually freaking thrilled for her mom. Not just because it was her mother, but because it was an oddly fitting thing for her to be doing. Sure, she wasn't exactly a whiz with technology, but with Brooke there to help, it was perfect. Her followers may have been few in numbers, but it was clear immediately that Alma adored her new hobby. It added yet more joy to painting; something that she already held in such high regards. It was perfect, truly.

As the two of them spoke, however, one thing became clear. River's hair. It was getting in the way. It was awkwardly styled, a floppy mess on her head. "Come on." Her mother urged, gently taking her by the arm. "Brooke, honey? Come in here and just watch this pot for me. It's just rice."

The younger of the siblings was up immediately, though not to help. "What? Mom, you're right there!" She complained petulantly, earning a look from their father.

With an equally stern glare from their mother, the teen was moving, muttering under her breath about how unfair it was. "I'm going to cut your sister's hair before we eat. Just watch the pot and make sure the house doesn't burn down."

A haircut? Oh, how long River had been waiting for this!

"I don't know how to cook rice!" Brooke bleated, but Alma was already pulling River in the direction of the couch, telling her to sit on the floor as she readied what she needed.

Chuckling, Paul stood and headed over to Brooke as she went into the kitchen area, giving River's shoulder a gentle but adoring squeeze on the way past her. "I'll stand and stare at the pot with you." He offered. "I mean, I don't know how to cook rice either, but if a fire starts, I'm real good at running outside with burning pots."

With a light thanks from Brooke, she and Paul stood at the small table, watching the pot of simmering rice as if their lives depended on it.

Meanwhile, Alma brought back everything she'd been searching for.

The first thing she did, seated on the couch just behind where River sat cross-legged on the floor, was wet her daughter's hair with a spray bottle, combing it back with the same comb and bottle she'd used every other time she'd cut her hair. Immediately, both of them were at peace. Of course, for River, she was transported back to childhood, remembering every single time that her mother had cut her hair for her. At the same time, Alma found herself thinking farther back again to her own childhood, having had her hair softly detangled by her own mother with that very same comb. One day, she hoped to gift it to whichever of her girls wanted it, planning to procure another for the other, possibly one from Dick's family.

As the older Nivalis worked, she hummed. It was a low, melodic tune, one that Dick, River and Brooke had heard thousands of times.

Both girls, in spite of how they acted around one another, softened the second their mother's notes hit their ears. Before long, River began to join in, humming the very same notes as her mother, perfectly in time as she relaxed backwards into Alma's knees.

In the kitchen, still standing beside Paul, Brooke began to somewhat absently sing. He couldn't pick out any of the words as a language that he recognized, but honestly he only knew English and a little Quiluette, so it truly could have been anything.

With the final addition of Dick's lower humming, so quiet that it was barely even there, the cutting began. None of the family looked at one another as they acted out of habit, but Paul simply couldn't stop looking at each and every one of them. He looked first at River, his beautiful imprint. Seeing her like this, so relaxed and so loved, it was food for his soul. The others looked just as calm and peaceful as she did, leaving him with the most incredibly calm and collected feeling in his chest. Utter acceptance and belonging. Awe that he was able to witness something that felt so intimate with them all.

In all honesty, he wished that he could have joined in. He wanted more, to know more of this part of River. He wanted not simply to consume this and to be a part of it in the future, but to ingrain himself in the beauty of this seemingly sacred act and rite.

He wouldn't tell, but it brought a single tear to his eyes as he watched pieces of River's hair falling to the ground. He wouldn't miss her hair, but he loosed that single tear all the same, remembering the time that he had first cut his own hair. He hadn't ever told her, but that first time when he'd taken scissors to his braid, he'd cried. He'd cried and yelled, throwing furniture around his home. He hadn't allowed Em to do it for him, though she'd offered. He hadn't wanted to hurt her in such a state, so he'd done it alone in the middle of the night.

Looking at River, seeing this part of her, he was overcome with emotion. Seeing her cutting her hair like this, seeing it treated with the respect and love that it deserved, it was beautiful.

The bulk of the work was done quickly, taking the back and sides of the teen's hair about as close to skin as possible with scissors. Then, with expert cuts, the top was done just as quickly. Alma offered to use the clippers to take it closer again, but River was happy to have more than a buzz this time.

Against all odds, Brooke and Paul managed to not burn a single grain of rice as they continued to watch the pot. River, Dick and Alma cleaned up after River's haircut before setting the table.

Once the food was all cooked and served, they seated themselves around the table. It was a squeeze for five, but it was hardly uncomfortable.

"What language was that?" Paul eventually asked, clearly referring to Brooke's singing.

The teen froze immediately, seemingly realising that she had in fact sung in front of her sister's boyfriend. "Uh..." She trailed off awkwardly, stabbing at some cabbage uselessly as she tried desperately to hide a blush.

"Cahnol." River supplied easily, smiling fondly.

Looking away from Brooke so as to not embarrass her further, Paul glanced at River. It was always safe to look at her. "It was beautiful." He stated simply. "All of it. The... I don't know, the ceremony of it all, I guess?" He looked again to River, almost as if he was asking some kind of permission to say what he was saying.

"Alma's cut the girls' hairs all their lives." The emotion and pure adoration was evident in Dick's voice. Weirdly, it made River feel like a little girl again. She could faintly feel the weight of her old braid sitting against her back, waiting from her mother to come and comb it before bed. "Back home, back in Utah, our people hold the same love and significance in our hair as yours do here. The difference is, though, we don't cut our hair only in mourning. For us, we think of our hair as the deer's antlers. We can shed it, but that doesn't mean that we've lost any part of ourselves that won't grow back. Of course, there's more to it than that, but that's loosely what our people believe."

"I like that." Paul said after a moment. Love swelled within River. Seeing him being so at ease and accepting of her culture as it differed from his own, it was amazing. Sure, even Skylar had tried, but there had always been little things that she would never have truly understood.

Ever warm and grinning, Alma swallowed before she spoke. "We have plenty of songs. Plenty of ceremonies and such." She sighed happily, looking at Paul as though he was her own. "When we first moved here, it was such a culture shock. We were so used to being so close to family, to not having such modern technology, even the grocery store here felt enormous. We had to sing the girls to sleep every night for the first six months."

"Mom." Both River and Brooke warned at the same time, though there was no real pleading in their voices. It was entirely performative as they asked their mother to stop, both girl reminiscing happily.

Immediately, Alma waved them off, gushing to Paul about them as Dick smiled fondly at her. "What? Oh, they were both so sweet. We hated seeing them both missing home like that, but they'd cuddle up together in River's bed until they fell asleep."

"Long before the time of boyfriends and drinking. Back when they were sweet." Dick chuckled.

Across the table, Brook snorted. "I'm still a freaking delight." She grumbled, seemingly shocked when no one opened their mouths to agree with her.

Finally, to her rescue, Dick spoke. "Whoever's been telling you that is giving you false information, honey." Alas, no rescue came.

"Dad!" She whined, though laughter bubbled through.

Chuckles and chortles started around the table, each of them simply giggling their glee. It was so terribly nice, ever second of it.

Dinner between the five of them was a fine affair. Alma filled Paul in on her new social media venture, telling him how excited she was about each of her five followers and just what she planned to do to produce the best content that she could. She, it seemed, wasn't all that interested in getting more followers, just catering to the few that she had. River figured that had something to do with how truly good and genuine she was.

As Paul and Alma talked animatedly, he suggested that she could record herself painting his place once he'd found a job. She tried to immediately accept without payment, but he and River stood firmly together on that matter and outright refused to allow her to do it for free, no matter how much she literally pouted at them both.

The topics changed slowly but surely, though it was Dick who brought it back to something work related. "So, Paul," He began, clearing his throat lightly. "On River's birthday, I could have sworn I heard one of you boys say that you put the whole back yard together in, what, a day?" His voice didn't hide his shock.

River stiffened a little. Paul and the guys did do it all in a day, but due to their supernatural strength.

Beside her, thigh touching hers softly, Paul nodded. "Yes, sir. We had all the supplies hidden out at Sam's place. Took most of the day, but we got it done."

"Remarkable." Dick muttered around a mouthful. After all, it was remarkable by human standards. "You know, you boys should really think about doing more of that around the res. Yard work, light construction, the sorts. I know folks here would rather pay you boys to do it than some overpriced outsiders."

If nothing else, it was food for thought during the rest of the evening. Thinking about it, River could actually see it working out. Her dad was right, of course. Most folks on the rest would have preferred keeping their money on the res, supporting small, local business. The only real issues with it all would be licensing and whatnot, but she wasn't even too sure what kind of things would have been needed. Still, that was getting a little ahead of things.

It wasn't too late by the time the two young lovers were leaving together. With huge hugs from everyone but Brooke, they were back in River's truck, heading away.

In all honesty, River was still kind of in awe of how well her folks were handling her just not living with them. Sure, she was legally an adult now, but they'd been so dead set against it even a couple short months ago, so she was thrilled to see how quickly they'd changed their tune. She knew it came down to them knowing that nagging her about it would only drive a wedge between them, but she was still amazed that they hadn't gone back to trying to get her to come back. After all, she was well aware that, as far as they were concerned, she was just dating a high school crush; they had no reason to believe that she and Paul were anything but sweethearts, least of all that there was any real permanence to their situation like spirit-magic.

.

.

.

.

.

"So you've met the baby?" River asked Leah. Her tone was hushed as she asked, though she wasn't sure why. While Sam and a couple of the guys were inside, it wasn't as though they could hear inside the walls of the den.

It was only two days since she and Paul had been over to her folks' place and her mom had cut her hair, but it had been nearly a week since she'd seen any of the other young women. Leah and Seth were around less and less as Jacob spent more time with his imprint and the Cullens, so seeing either of them was nice these days.

In the safety of the den at Sam and Em's, Leah nodded around a mouthful of food. "Don't breathe a word of this to Jake, but it's creepy as fuck." She shook her head lightly as she spoke, eyes wide as she thought about the hybrid baby.

"Listen to you both. It." Emily laughed easily, giving her cousin a fake, stern glare. "He is just a baby, not an it."

River and Leah, it seemed, were the least maternal of the four of them. While both of them were a little creeped out, Emily was besotted. She hadn't even met the thing yet, but she had even called the Cullens' house to congratulate them on the baby's safe delivery and to offer her wishes to Bella for a speedy recover/transformation. According to Paul, she'd wanted to send a food basket, but the idea had been quickly shut down on account of the Cullens not eating food.

"Okay, but that name..." River trailed off pointedly. Beside her, Leah snorted.

"That name... is adorable." Emily shot back, still grinning.

The only quiet one, Kim, was somewhere in the middle. Sure, she was a little irked by the idea of the hybrid baby and she thought the name was weird, but it was also just a baby? Or, well, closer to a toddler now. "It is a little... odd." She eventually piped up, getting encouraging nods from both Leah and River. "Just... I mean, naming it- him... after her husband and Jake is a little-"

"It's fucking weird!" Leah barely got the words out around the food in her mouth.

River, immediately, nodded her agreement. "I wouldn't shoot a kid out and name is Paul-Skylar or Sky-Paul-"

"Skaul." Leah mused, snickering. "Would you be comfortable with me having a kid and naming it Sam? It'd be weird."

"A vampire baby is already plenty odd." Kim seemed almost shocked at the sound of her own voice. "I'm sure he's lovely, though. His name's just an aquired taste."

EJ, or Edward-Jacob, sure as shit was an odd name. Granted, River wasn't too sure what she expected from an eighteen year old who had married a vampire, but still. Truly though, as she tried to see herself in Bella's shoes, she couldn't see how the hell that name had come around. The whole Skylar-Paul thing had been a joke, but that didn't mean that the point didn't still stand.

By all accounts, the baby was nothing short of a delight to be around. He didn't cry, didn't shit all over himself, he didn't pull hair or barf all over anyone. Only, as River heard each of those things in his favour, she couldn't help but be even more creeped out by him. That wasn't a baby, it was some kind of freaking robot. She'd been around babies as a small child before they'd left Utah and she hadn't ever seen one of them not doing one of the aforementioned things.

Slowly but surely, the topic of EJ was dropped, making way instead for other, far more interesting topics. Namely, sex.

Look, it wasn't the only thing that they talked about, okay? The thing was, there were few people any of them could actually talk to about it all given their limited social circles, but it was made somewhat harder again when the pack secret was brought into play. It wasn't as if River could tell anyone else that Paul had effortlessly held her entirely off the ground, up against a wall while he'd gone down on her for almost an hour, that just didn't sound possible to the human mind. So yeah, that was where they ended up more often than not.

Without giving any names, Leah finally announced that she was getting her needs met, to the elation of the others.

"Is it someone on the res?" Kim asked excitedly.

Rolling her eyes, Leah flicked a muffin wrapper at the younger girl. "I'm not telling you shit." She grumbled, hiding a smile. "I tell you, you tell Jared. His mind's like an open box." She chuckled at that.

"Wait, is it?" Kim, in spite of the new information, couldn't help but laugh. "Oh my god, have you seen me naked?" It was lucky, River decided, that Kim found this whole thing amusing.

Snorting, wide-eyed, Leah gave her a pointed look. "Only, like, every other week." She admitted, laughing with Kim as giggles erupted from her. "He tries, if that helps. He just... god, this is gross. He just loves you so much that he's never not thinking about you." Another roll of her eyes, this time for the loved up young couple.

Naturally, Kim practically swooned. They'd all accepted by now that there would be slip ups in the pack mind. Even River was growing less grossed out by the idea that Paul might slip up one day. Granted, she didn't want him to, but she couldn't have found it in herself to be mad at him.

"Paul's the worst." Leah then added.

Mid sip of her drink, River groaned. She swallowed quickly. "What have you seen?" She finally asked, silently dreading the answer.

The older girl shrugged, thought, then answered. "Honestly? Nothing, but also... everything?"

"What?" River barked out around a laugh. After all, what the hell did that mean?

Leah and other others laughed in turn. "I mean... he's always thinking about you. He runs by a stream? Oh, River loves water. He hears a car? River's got a truck. His mind is insane. There are just flashes of you in there every freaking second. He's so on top of it though, shutting himself down, locking us out if his thoughts get a little... less family friendly. It's exhausting."

Fuck. Okay, so that was fucking adorable. It was, right? She was in everything that he saw? "You know, if you want to see me naked that badly, all you gotta do is ask." As a blush consumed her neck at the news of just how often Paul's mind was on her, she tried to diffuse with a joke.

Feeling merciful, Leah just rolled her eyes yet again -the third freaking time- and shoved the younger girl gently with a chuckle.

With Skylar gone, it was nice to feel as though she had other friends. Or more specifically, it was nice to remember that she did have other friends, not to just feel as though she did. She had to remind herself sometimes that, although it was a friendship born of convenience, it was still a friendship. She loved those other girls just as she now loved each and every member of the pack. She had friends.

It was odd, now that the new school year was coming around. Last year, she'd been a relative loner at school, save for talking to Brooke whenever the younger Nivalis deemed it socially acceptable to speak to her older sister. This year, for the first time, she'd be starting the year with a friend in Kim, friends in all of the guys, not to mention a boyfriend. Seriously, she never would have seen that coming. The friends were almost as much of a shock as Paul himself was.

Her plan, in all honesty, had been to simply go into her senior year with no friends and no distractions. How the times had changed.

While they were all sat there, keen to fill the time, River told the others about what her folks had said. Mostly she talked about her dad's passing comment about work the guys could all pick up on the res. Honestly, she was thrilled when the others seemed mostly taken with the idea. After all, they all ate an insane amount of food and went through clothes like nobody's business, it sure wouldn't have hurt for them all to have had some extra cash.

"You know," Emily started, thinking about it all. "I'll bet Sam would happily let some of the guys do paid work for our people instead of patrols sometimes. Maybe the guys could work it out together; pool the money for bulk buying extra food and clothes."

Huh. So that actually wasn't a bad idea, not in the slightest.

Leah was eager to nod her agreement. "I know the financial strain's getting to a couple of families, especially the younger pups. Their folks don't understand why, they just know their kids won't stop growing, won't stop eating and keep ripping through their clothes."

"It could be like setting up a trust for the pack." Kim mused, sounding pleased by the idea.

With the understanding that Emily would bring the idea up with Sam, the subject was dropped. River was pleased with herself, glad to be helping the pack out in some minor way.

From there, the next topic of conversation was River's upcoming fight. It was, after all, approaching. They talked about her workout routine, about the food aspect, even about how she felt about her chances of winning. In all honesty, she didn't expect to win her first fight. It would be nice for sure, but she didn't want to get too cocky going into it.

"You should do some social media stuff." Kim stated, sounding excited by the prospect. "You know, seeing a young woman living on a res chasing her dream... it could be big for a lot of people out there."

Holy shit, how had she forgotten? "Oh my god, can we put a pin in that and circle back?" River, immediately, was excited. The others nodded, of course. "My mom's on social media now. She's got this page about her painting and she's super excited about it."

"Oh my god, that's so cute."

"What's her handle? I'll follow her?"

"Your mom's the sweetest."

And just like that, Alma's followers went from five to eight, silently reminding River that she'd follow the page for her mom's sake and make Paul do the same. "Em, do you think Sam could convince the guys to follow her, too? Not interact or whatever, but just follow?"

Snorting, Emily nodded. "Oh, absolutely. That'll be the smallest thing he's asked of those boys, they'll jump on it."

See, River had this good-daughter shit locked down!

.

.

.

.

.

It wasn't all to much later on that same evening that River found herself atop Paul. Together, riding out the waning bliss that they'd shared, their lips danced smoothly against one another.

Sweaty, River began peppering Paul's handsome face with kisses, pleased to feel his cheeks pull up into a grin. "You know, Leah spilled your shit today." She told him, so very intentionally keeping a slight edge to her voice.

Still grinning, he chuckled. "Oh really?" He asked, clearly curious but not at all worried.

Placing a heavy kiss directly on his full lips, she hummed. "She said that you're sickening and that you can't stop thinking about me." As she spoke, butterflies fluttered about in her stomach. The fluttering intensified when he made no move to deny it. "Simp." She teased.

At that, he laughed. It was loud and boisterous, just how she loved. "Simp?" He scoffed, still laughing. He raised a brow at her as she nodded. "You know, you're the one sitting on my dick, right?"

Feeling some kind of playful, River simply chuckled. "Oh, baby. You know, all you have to do is ask, right? I'll pull the strap out the second you say the word... simp."

As she spoke, she watched something dark fall over his eyes. It wasn't a bad look, not at all. In fact, if the turning of her insides was anything to go by, he was... intrigued? Maybe even turned on. "And what the hell makes you think I'd want anything going near my butt?" He asked, voice feigning offence. Only, she could hear the truth. It called out to her loudly, announcing that he'd try anything in the world for as long as it made her any kind of happy.

Knowing him all too well, she hopped off him and took his chin in her hands as he whined at the loss of her. "You're my bitch, Lahote." She blew him a kiss as she let go, sauntering off for a shower.

His laughter trailed after her. She was glad that he found her funny. She knew that most guys their age would have been some kind of offended at the idea that she wanted to peg him, but hey, his mind had become far more open while they'd been dating. Plus, she didn't actually mean it. They both knew that it was teasing and was all in good fun. As she thought about it though, she knew he truly would have let her if she'd told him that's what she wanted. Honestly? She considered telling him that it was the cost of her own backside. After all, that was fair. If he wanted her butt, she wanted his first.

Once the water was warm and washing away the day, Paul found his way into the bathroom. He held her closer under the stream, littering her naked body with kisses and helping her to wash every inch.

Together, they got one another clean and ready for bed. With school approaching, their days had grown relatively full, so any time spent together was intimate in one way or another, be it sex or simply taking time to truly be together. Although, if they were being honest, there was a lot of sex.

Later on, in bed together, River laid her head down on Paul's chest. His heart was beating beneath her ear, nice and steady. It was firm and comforting and, oddly, made her think briefly of Bella. She couldn't ever imagine giving that up, not for anything. She couldn't imagine waking up one day without the beating of Paul's heart to give the day meaning. Gods, the thought alone was horrendous.

"Hey," He muttered, so very softly and lovingly. "Everything okay?" He asked, bringing a huge hand up to lay on her jaw.

His touch was, as always, so fucking gentle. He didn't have it in him to hurt her, not ever, she knew that. So, she nodded. She wouldn't have to ever have a morning without the beating of his heart, she knew that within her own. "Absolutely." She assured him, watching his features as they changed from worried to content. He could clearly sense as her own feeling calmed within her, such was the beauty of the bond that they shared.

"Are you nervous at all?" She then asked, another thing on her mind. "School." She clarified as he raised a curious brow.

A light chuckle rumbled through his broad chest. "For what?" He asked. His calmness was nice, but it didn't entirely cancel out her worries. "What're you worried about?"

Thinking about it, she felt stupid. Looking at him though, she knew that he would have the words to chase away her fears. "I'm scared, I guess, of what us dating is going to look like at school." She admitted, feeling an odd sense of guilt over it all. "I don't care what anyone thinks, but also... fuck, we're just kids, Paul. We used to be at one another's throats, you know?"

He thought for a second before nodding. "You're worried that people will think worse of you for dating me, especially after all the shit I put you through." He surmised. It was like a shot to hear heart, hearing the hurt in his voice as he spoke. He clearly hated how much he'd hurt her.

She sighed and shook her head. "I don't give a damn what they think. None of them." She told him quickly. "I just fucking hate people talking about me, you know? The kids at school will talk about it, about us. They'll think you're crazy for being with someone who looks like me-"

"Fuck them." He growled, gripping her jaw a little tighter to make her look into his eyes. It didn't hurt, not at all, but it was stern.

"Paul." She rolled her eyes.

Quickly, he rolled them onto her back. She snorted out a laugh as he managed to end up between her thighs. "Fuck. Them." He growled down at her, leaning down and trapping her in a kiss before she could respond. "Seriously. God, you're so fucking hot, you know that, right? I chased one of the new kids for like twenty miles through the woods for thinking about you naked, so if you think I'm blind or something because of the bond-"

"Oh, a kid thinks I'm hot? You should have said so." She teased, rolling her eyes.

Above her, Paul was stiff. He looked down at her with a look so very adoring that it melted her heart. Fuck. "You seem to have this idea that I couldn't possibly love you or find you attractive without the bond. I need you to know how fucking dumb that is." As he spoke, he boxed her in with his forearms. She'd have been lying if she'd said it wasn't doing anything for her. The proximity, if nothing else, was working magic. "River Nivalis, I love you. I'll say it a million times an hour if that's how often you need to hear it. The bond? It can't force feelings. I was always capable of feeling this for you and I was always meant to, I just couldn't pull my own head out of my ass for long enough to fall in love with you. You and your smile. Fuck, and those eyes."

See, there it was. Exactly what her panicked mind had needed from him. "The kids at school-"

"Are nobodies." He smirked. There he was. Paul Lahote, Resident Asshole. Sexy. Idiotic. Hers. "Look, I can cuss you out and throw you into lockers if you want." He then offered, jokingly.

She couldn't help it. She laughed. "Oh really? That would be perfect, actually." She joked back, earning herself a grin. Gods, he really was so fucking handsome.

Snorting, he nodded. "You got it." He assured her cockily. "Paul Lahote, Cocky Moron, coming up-"

"Resident Asshole." She corrected him, getting an earned brow. "That's what Brooke and I called you. Before. That's actually what I still call you, up here." She told him when a laugh worked its way out of him.

"Paul Lahote, Resident Asshole." He said once more, this time correctly. Somewhat ironically, he seemed oddly pleased with his new title. "You know, I kind of like it." He admitted.

Rolling her eyes, she shoved at his chest playfully. Above her, he toppled, falling down at her side where he curled himself around her. "Well, so do I." She admitted, watching his face perk up. "I happen to think it's hot when you're a bit of an ass, okay?"

Immediately, his brow raised. "Oh, you do?" He teased. Fuck, there it was!

She couldn't help the blush that took her chest as he looked down at her like she was his freaking dinner. He knew what he was doing, she knew that. "Shut up, asshole." She laughed.

Snicking, he shook his head. "Resident Asshole." He corrected her.

Oh, gods, she was never going to hear the end of this, was she? Hey, not that she minded, of course.

Not super long, not super short, hopefully a comfortable middle ground! Thank you so much for reading, I imagine that things were a little all over the place as I've been messing around with this chapter for what feels like a decade now. The flow wasn't quite there and I can only apologize for that. Hopefully it was all okay/wasn't too noticeable and honestly I just can't wait to post again, whenever that happens.

Please let me know any thoughts/feelings, I love to hear them all from the good to the bad! I'm imagining that the story will start to feel a little more structured after this as they're all back in school, so I'm hoping that'll add a little more formula of sorts to my chapters. Anways, have an awesome day and thank you again for reading!