The Sister

Chapter 3

"There's my baby!" Elizabeth called, walking through the front door of the Blacks residents. Billy was in the lounge room watching tv as Julie rolled around on the rug playing with a few of her toys. "Hey baby, were you a good girl for Uncle Billy?" Elizabeth asked picking Julie up off the floor.

"She's an angel, nothing to worry about. She's gotten better at walking since last weekend, made it across the room without falling down today. Won't be long and she will be able to get me beers from the fridge," Billy laughed.

"Yeah, that maybe cute now but just wait until she's a teen and stealing beers from your fridge. It won't be so cute then," Beth smiled kissing her daughter's cheek.

"She wouldn't do that to me. How was your walk?" Billy asked turning his attention away from the tv to Elizabeth.

"Good. We lost Jake at the beach; he ran into Isabella and some of her school friends. Embry and Quil took me to the diner, I think they just wanted to use my staff discount." Beth laughed sitting Julie back on the ground and taking a seat on the floor next to her.

"As long as you had a good time that's all that matters," Billy replied.

"Yeah, it was good. Also ran into Sam Uley, he apparently got back into town yesterday. Looks like he has been hiding in a gym somewhere. I swear he's doubled in muscle in the two weeks he's been gone." Elizabeth said, as she watched her daughter playing.

"Really? Well, it's a relief he's back, a lot of people were worried about him," Billy tried to play it off. He was well aware what was happening to Sam. Harry had finally found Sam hiding in the forest the day before hand and managed to convince him to shift back. Sam had spent most of yesterday with the elders and trying to understand his new role in their tribe.

"Yeah, Leah has been going crazy," Elizabeth said.

"Hopefully she can rest a bit easier now he's back." Billy felt sorry for Leah, he knew what was coming her way. The elders encouraged Sam to end his relationship with her and he had agreed to do it.

"If you're right keeping an eye on her I might go take a nap, I'm exhausted," Beth said standing up.

"You're getting old," Billy laughed.

"Yep, soon I'll be in a wheelchair just like you and then we can have races," Beth smiled.

"I could beat you any place any time, just ask your father. He'll tell you." Billy smiled. Beth laughed. She went for a quick sleep getting almost an hour before she had Julie crawling up into bed with her. Beth laid with her for a while enjoying snuggling with the small girl. Eventually Juliet fell asleep, and Beth felt it was time to get back up and do something. Her mind wondered to dinner, and she thought about what she could make that night. She went to the kitchen and began shuffling through the fridge as she planned out dinner.

"Do you mind cooking for two more tonight?" Billy asked, wheeling himself into the room.

"Not at all. Who's coming over for dinner?"

"Charlie and Bella," Billy said.

"Okay," Beth said slowly, her stomach recoiling. She had so far avoided any meals with her sister. Pretty much any interaction with her. Beth felt trapped just thinking about it. "Dam it," Beth said shuffling through the fridge items.

"What's wrong?" Billy asked.

"I'm going to have to run to the store, we need a few more things." Beth said shutting the door.

"Take your time. Is Julie is still napping?"

"Yeah, she should be good for a while. I won't be long just needing a couple things," Beth said grabbing her purse and a jacket. She checked on Julie to be sure she was still sleeping before leaving. Elizabeth would be home in plenty of time before Julie woke up. The trip to the Forks grocery store only took fifteen minutes. She hurried into the store as a light rain fell from the sky. Elizabeth brought a few things to at least make it look like she had to come to the store even though she did have all the items needed for dinner. She really just needed a smoke. Even though she had finished her last pack over a month ago and had done well to stay away from them. She was sure she couldn't get through the night without it. She paid and quickly left the store.

The rain had stopped by the time she exited the store. Elizabeth put the bags on the back seat and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it up. The first hit was amazing, the taste that had taken weeks to get out of her mouth now made her feel, warm inside again. She leant back on the car, savouring it while no one was around. Or at least she thought she was alone.

"You shouldn't smoke, it's no good for you," Sam said pulling a cart up beside her.

"Yeah, I've heard. Grocery shopping for an army, are you?" Beth asked looking at Sam's full cart, it was overflowing with all different kinds of food.

"There was nothing good left in the fridge so I thought I would restock it," Sam shrugged.

"At least now you don't have to shop until Christmas, maybe even the new year." Beth was only half joking, that trolley would feed her for six months. Sam laughed but it faded away as he watched her take another draw from the cigarette.

"You don't look too good? I mean you look upset, not like ugly or anything." Sam said quickly, regretting his first choice of words. Beth scoffed giving Sam a sideways glance.

"You don't look too good yourself Sam," Beth said taking note of the dark bags under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days and his clothes looked more disheveled than they had earlier in the day. He seemed to have aged a few years in only a few hours.

"I broke up with Leah today," Sam said looking up at the sky.

"What? Why?" Beth asked between coughs. She had gasped at Sam's words and some smoke had gone down the wrong way.

"Are you okay?" Sam looked at her with high concern.

"Yeah, yeah just went the wrong way. I'm good, I'm good keep talking." She waved her hand at him, catching her breath.

"I just didn't think she was the right person for me. My time away made me realise that. She's a great woman but I don't think I could spend the rest of my life with her," he sounded torn over the decision. She wasn't fully convinced on his reasons.

"Fair enough, you have to do what you have to do." She took one more drag from the cigarette before dropping it on the ground and stomping it out. "See you around Sam." She gave him a weak smile before climbing into her truck.

"Bye Beth," Sam said pushing the cart to his truck but still keeping an eye on Beth until she had driven out of sight. She should have been out of sight out of mind, but she had been the only thing on his mind for hours by that point. Seeing her in the store had been an accident, running into her in the parking lot hadn't been. When he saw her in the store, he practically ran to check out trying to catch up. Throwing everything at the poor checkout lady and bagging items quicker then she could scan them. He was glad he caught up to Beth. Just hearing her voice made him feel so much better after the afternoon he had spent with Leah. He hated hurting her, but he now remembered the reason he had to let her go.

Elizabeth drove back to her weekend home to cook dinner and then sat through a long, painful night of dinner with her sister. It was only made bearable by the other people at dinner. They were the four people she loved most in the world. Isabella tried to get under her skin, but Beth focused on other conversations. Charlie had an early morning fishing trip planned the next morning, so they left not long after dinner. Beth snuck outside for another smoke then to relax her nerves. It felt like the first time she had breathed in hours, and she savoured it for as long as she could.

Sam felt like a stalker as he sat by the Blacks house watching Beth. She sat out on the back ramp smoking. He wondered why she had picked up the disgusting habit, he hadn't seen her smoking in months. She had two cigarettes before going back inside. From what Sam could tell she must have gone for a shower after that as the next time she passed a window she was changed and towel drying her long hair. He listened to Beth reading her daughter to sleep, then her moving around her room and settling into bed for the night. Her soft breathing after a while was his sign to go see Billy. He went to the front door and knocked as quietly as he could. Billy opened the door a few moments later.

"Sam, is everything okay?" Billy asked looking up at the younger man that towered over him.

"Can we talk outside for a minute?" Sam stood back to give Billy room.

"Sure son. What's the matter?" Billy wheeled himself out onto the porch, shutting the door behind himself.

"I broke up with Leah today," Sam said leaning back on the railing.

"I'm sorry you had to do that, but it was in her best interest." Billy tried to be comforting, he could see the young man was hurting.

"I know. That's not why I came to talk to you. While I was trying to find Leah, I ran into Beth. I umm, I think I imprinted on her." Sam ran a hand over his face, swiping away small droplets of rain that had started to drip on his face.

"Well, that's definitely unexpected." Billy didn't know what else to say.

"You said only imprints were allowed to know about the shifters. How am I meant to explain any of this to her?" Sam asked. He could barely believe any of it was real. How was he meant to convince someone else of it.

"The spirits did it for a reason. She will make you stronger. You don't have to rush into anything. Elizabeth is very strong and understanding, she will handle whatever life throws at her. Even this. Just give it time." Billy could see why the spirits would put them together. Elizabeth would help keep Sam on the right track, and Sam would be able to help Elizabeth with her own demons.

"I don't want to hurt her. You said I was dangerous, that's why I had to leave Leah, I could have hurt her," Sam hissed.

"Not being around Beth will just hurt both of you. The bond will only get stronger with time. In that time practice controlling your anger."

"Okay. Thanks for talking to me Billy."

"Anytime son. Night Sam," Billy gave the younger man a nod before going back inside. Sam went back to the forest ready to run off some of his worries.

Author Notes***

Hope everything is flowing and easy to understand. I have mapped out the next few chapters ideas and really feeling this story atm so hopefully not long for an update. Please let me know your thoughts i always love to hear them. Thanks Lovlys

One hour later….

So i just wrote the next chapter, will post as soon as i get a review /wake up. It is 12:18am now so I'm off to bed.