The Sister
Chapter 10
"Sam!" Beth screamed as loud as her lungs could manage. A heartbeat later the front door flew inwards, splinters of wood flying in every direction. A black wolf exploding into the hallway. Before Sam's feet hit the ground the cold one was flying out the back door. Sam ran after her leaving claw marks in the floorboards.
Elizabeth lent back on the kitchen counter trying to keep herself up right. Her heartbeat thumped in her ear drums, and she tried to keep her breathing calm as she felt the familiar feeling of a panic attack shake her. She sunk to the ground, counting in her head, trying to keep her breaths steady. She closed her eyes focusing on her breathing as the world swirled around her.
Sam marched through the back door, faulting in his steps as he saw Elizabeth scrunched up on the kitchen floor. He went over to her slowly. "Lizzy," he said softly. Her eyes snapped to him; he could see her visibly trembling. He wasn't sure what to do, worried he would scare her if he moved closer. But she made the next move, throwing herself at him she wrapped her arms around him. He held on tightly, terrified to let her go.
"You're okay?" She whispered.
"Yeah, I'm okay. She got away from me, but I don't think she will be coming back any time soon," he said. She shuttered at the thought of that thing still being out there. They held each other for an indeterminable amount of time before Beth's breathing returned to normal and she took a step back from Sam.
Looking around at the mess she sighed. Beth began cleaning up the spilt milk while Sam collected the shattered door peaces. Elizabeth wasn't sure how she was going to explain to Charlie what happened. The large claw marks in the hallway floor were not an easy fix.
"I've blocked the door shut for now, I'll go get a new one tomorrow to fix it. Did you want me to call Harry to tell him you won't be in tonight?" Sam asked.
"No Sam I'm, I'm…" she had no words.
"You're in shock. He will understand, you shouldn't be working after today your head isn't on the job."
"Okay," Beth didn't fight him on it. Beth mopped the kitchen floor as Sam called Harry and told him what had happened.
"Thanks Harry, I'll keep you updated with the red head." Sam said before hanging up the phone. "He agreed you should have the night off."
"I heard," Beth said throwing the mop water out the back door and resting the mop and buckets outside. "How are we going to cover up those?" Beth asked looking at the two long sets of claw marks in the hallway.
"How observant is Charlie?" Sam asked.
"Well, he is police chief so i think being observant is part of the job," Beth said moving closer to look at them.
"Would he notice a new hallway mat," Sam asked.
"Probably but I don't think he would go out of his way to move it," Beth said, thinking about it.
"Okay good. I'll get one tomorrow as well to cover it up for now." Sam said with a nod. He walked over to Beth grabbing her hand. "You ready to go?"
"Yes, definitely yes." She wanted out of the house and as far away from it as she could get. They drove back to La Push in silence. Sam parked in front of Billy's before turning to look at Beth.
"You, okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I've only got to grab Julie and drive over," Beth said, not really answering his question. Her eyes looked a million miles away.
"I can wait, and you can follow me," Sam offered.
"I'm fine Sam, please. I'm fine." Beth shook herself from her daze, trying to bring herself back to reality.
"Okay, see you soon then," Sam said, feeling uneasy about leaving her.
"Bye," Beth said jumping out of the truck and hurrying inside, light rain wetting her hair.
"Hey Beth," Billy said from the living room. His smile dropped as she stepped into the room.
"Hi Billy. Thanks for watching her," Beth said going to Julie.
"No problem, dear. You all good?" Billy could tell something was off with her. Beth paused next to Julie, she looked around, listening for any sign of movement in the house.
"Is Jake home?" She whispered, eyes flicking back to Billy.
"No, he's over at Quils. Is everything okay?" Billy asked watching her pull shaky hands from her jacket pockets.
"There was a vampire in Charlie's house today," Beth said running a hand over her face. She sat down on the nearest couch.
"What happened?" Billy asked, worry on his face.
"Sam was there with me, he chased it, but it got away from him. The it was right their Billy, standing in the hallway. Its eyes were red, blood red. If Sam wasn't there, if dad had been home, it could of." Beth was trying to get the creatures eyes out of her mind. It was like the vampire's face was etched into the back of her eyelids; with every blink she saw it looking back at her.
"Nothing is going to happen to him Beth, I promise." He patted the young girl's knee.
"Those things are real Billy," Beth whispered.
"Yeah Bethie, but that's why Sam and the others changed. They will protect the tribe. They can destroy the cold ones."
"It's just crazy," Beth shook her head.
"Yeah, it is. Just have some faith it's all going to work out." Billy tried to comfort her, but he couldn't blame her for being on edge after the afternoon she had. Any normal person would be.
"Thanks Billy. I'm going to stay at Sam's. He called Harry and told him what happened, and they both agreed I shouldn't work tonight." Beth said standing up.
"Good, you need a break." Billy said as Beth picked her daughter up.
"I'll still be back Monday if that's okay with you?" Beth asked.
"You are always welcome here Beth, you don't need to keep asking. Sorry Jacob has been acting out all week. He will understand everything soon enough." Beth nodded her head. She did want Jacob to stop being mad at her, but she also didn't want him to become a wolf. She could see the drain it had on the others and didn't want to see Jacob go through that as well. But it wasn't up to her.
There was a stop to the rain and Beth hurried to get Julie out to the car before it started up again. She tossed a quick goodbye over her shoulder to Billy before leaving. She buckled Julie in and jumped into the driver's seat as the rain started up again. She drove slowly, her nerves still on edge. Sam waited for them on the front steps. A smile grew on his face as he watched Beth pull up the driveway. She parked by his truck, and he opened the door for her.
"Hey," she sighed looking up at him. He thought she had looked tired earlier in the day, but this was next level.
"Hey, I got the play pen and crib all set up."
"No way were you that fast," Beth said.
"I may have had Jared's help for ten minutes, but you can't prove anything," Sam said. Beth smiled weakly opening the back door. "Let me take her." Sam said, making Beth step aside. He struggled with the clips on Julie's car seat. She was reaching out for him to pick her up making it difficult to undo the straps, but he managed. He picked her up and she grabbed at his short hair, scrunching her fingers into it.
"Watch her, she's a hair puller," Beth laughed, shutting the car door.
"Apparently," Sam smiled. He tickled the little girl under her armpit, and she let out a squeal before laughing. Forgetting all about Sam's hair. "Did you want to unpack now or in the morning?" Sam asked as they entered the house.
"That's a tomorrow problem," Beth said looking at the pile of stuff stacked to the side of the room.
"Sounds good, make yourself at home," Sam said taking Julie to the play pen. He had set it up in the middle of the living room on the soft mat. Then emptied one of the boxes of toys into the area. Julie fidgeted to get away from him as she saw one of her favourite bares. Sam placed her down and she hurried over to the black teddy bear grabbing it with both hands. She held it up high in the air. "She likes that one?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, she loves that ugly thing, it use to have a raincoat but I'm not sure where that ended up," Beth said looking at the pots on the stove, steam rising into the air. "You said you couldn't cook?" Beth asked stepping into the kitchen.
"It's steak and vegetables, hard to stuff up," Sam said moving to the kitchen as well.
"You would be surprised," Beth said peaking under the lid.
"I have to do a few hours patrol tomorrow night to give the others a break, but other then that I'm yours all weekend," Sam said, grabbing the steak out of the fridge.
"Don't let me interrupt you if you have to do more hours I don't mind," Beth said washing her hands. Sam grabbed a frypan out and placed it on the stove top, lighting it up.
"They owe me some. Once they are both back at school, I'm going to have to cover most weekday shifts. So should have most weekends free," Sam said as he placed the steaks into the hot pan.
"If you're doing patrol's all the time, how are you meant to have a job and afford to actually live?" Beth asked.
"The council pays for most things. It's not like I can really have a normal job," Sam explained.
"I guess," Beth nodded her head watching the flame flicker under the pan.
"Do you at least enjoy it?" Beth asked, shaking salt over the pan. Sam smiled at the small motion, she seemed to move around the kitchen without worry or hesitation.
"It's not what I had planned out to do once I left school, but I don't hate it. There are good parts to it," Sam said.
"I guess you can only make the best of the situation," Beth agreed.
"What about you?" Sam asked.
"I enjoy my job," Beth shrugged.
"But is it what you always wanted to do?" Sam asked.
"Of course not, but life changes."
"What if life didn't change? If you didn't have Juliet, what would you have done after graduation?" Sam asked. Beth moved to his other side grabbing the pot off the stove. Going to the sink she drained the hot water from the pot.
"Probably gone to college to get a degree in something I would never use," Beth said. She sat the pot down and started shuffling through the cabinets.
"You're no good at this game. What did you want to be when you grew up?" Sam asked.
"Probably a dance teacher," Beth said pondering the idea for a minute.
"Really?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow. He lent back on the counter, watching her.
"Yeah, I could see myself teaching a room of little kids how to pirouette," she said finding the cabinet that held plates. She grabbed out two plates and began portioning up the food.
"Ballet?" Sam laughed, out of surprise.
"Yeah, I did it for almost eight years. Ran out of time for it in high school, Renee pushed me to try other things," Beth said moving back to the stove and flipping the steaks over.
"Would never have guessed you liked Ballet. What sports did you do in high school?" Sam asked.
"I was on the track team, did swimming for a year and soccer as well. If I hadn't dropped out in my last year, I would have gone to state with the soccer team. They didn't end up winning state though." Beth said, she always wondered if she had been there, if it would have gone any different.
"That's still really great though that you got to try all those different things. You wouldn't have had those options here," Sam told her as Beth plated up the steaks.
"Still would have been nice to go to school here. Not to be referred to as native by the other kids, just been able to blend in. I guess with Renee as a mother there was never much chance of blending in." Beth laughed. Even Bella had struggled to blend in at there old school.
Beth carried the plates to the table and Sam followed after her. He had already set up the highchair by the table and it was only when he saw that he remembered they were not alone.
"What will Juliet eat?" Sam asked, his eyes moving to the girl in the play pen. Beth laughed. She went to grab the girl in question.
"She will just steal from my plate. I'll find her plastic plates out tomorrow but usually it's just easier to share with her. Hey baba," Beth smiled picking the girl out of the play pen. Sam sat down at the table and watched Beth place Juliet in the highchair.
"How old were you when you were adopted?" Sam asked, while he had Beth talking, he hoped to learn as much about her as he could. Her walls were fully down now, and he loved seeing her like this.
"Almost two. Apparently, my father died, and my mother wasn't coping so she put me up for adoption. Renee and Charlie were having fertility problems so they decided to adopt me. As perfect timing would have it, they found out Renée was pregnant a month later." Beth laughed dryly. She placed some peas in front of Julie. The little girl made a happy sound clapping her hands together before she grabbed a pee and pressed it into her mouth.
"You have no idea who your birth parents are?" Sam asked before taking a bite of his own food.
"No and I'm fine with that. If my mother wanted to know me she would have turned up by now." Beth shrugged. She sliced her food up into smaller bite size peaces before placing some carrots and more peas in front of Julie.
"I guess sometimes it's better not knowing. My dad was a drunken asshole, I would have loved not to know him," Sam said.
"Our parents make us who we are. You wouldn't be the same person you are today without him. Regardless of if he did good or bad things, he made you who you are," Beth said. Sam felt like the words were practiced. Something Beth had thought or said before.
"Are you going to eat?" Sam asked Beth. She laughed. His plate had three times the amount of food as hers did and his was almost empty. Beth's was only missing the few items she had given to Julie, she had yet to eat any herself. Beth rolled her eyes lifting a fork full of food up and taking a bite.
"Happy?" She asked after swallowing the food. "I don't usually eat much at night, usually it's just work then bed." Beth said staring at the plate. She took another bite.
"Come on don't let Julie out eat you," Sam smiled. Beth laughed picking at her food. She continued to take small bites until majority of the plate was clean. She had offered more to Julie and the little girl had covered her face with potato. She definitely had a better appetite then her mother.
"You're a messy little goose," Beth said with a sigh brushing Julie's scraps onto her discarded plate.
"Don't worry about that, I'll clean up," Sam said.
"You sure?" Beth asked.
"Yeah, you get her cleaned up and I'll do the rest," Sam said standing and collecting their plates, taking them to wash up. Beth grabbed Julie out of the highchair and a bag of clothes from the pile of their items.
"Bathroom?" Beth asked Sam.
"Up the stairs to the left, her crib is in the room straight across the hall." He said.
"Thanks," Beth said hoisting Julie higher on her hip before taking her upstairs. Sam took his time with the dishes. Cleaning the kitchen and dining table. He swept under the table as well to get the food Julie knocked on the floor. Once he heard the water stop and the bathroom door open a short time later, he decided it would be okay to go up stairs. Sam hovered in the doorway to the spare room watching Beth tuck Julie in. The little girl was already breathing heavy, sleep quickly over coming her. Beth caught Sam's eyes. Quietly she crossed the room to stand by him.
"I wasn't sure if you wanted your own bed or if you were happy to share. So, I made the bed up in here. Fully up to you," Sam said. "I don't mind either way."
"I've never slept away from Julie before. Stupid I know," Beth looked down at her feet.
"It's not stupid. If you would sleep better in here with her that's perfectly fine." He caught her chin tilting her face to look at him.
"Thanks Sam." She hesitated for a few moments before standing up on her tip toes and pressing a kiss to his lips.
"See you in the morning," she whispered, hating that she had to let him go.
"Sweet dreams Lizzy." Sam whispered as she let go stepping back into the room. Beth stared at him for a moment before shutting the door.
Author Notes***
Longest chapter yet, i hope it wasn't to bad. I do have learning difficulties so sorry if there are any spelling mistakes, I do get word to read it all back to me but hearing it only helps me pick up on some of the mistakes.