Levi's tree

Another day, another challenge… lol

This one was my challenge actually. I used 'To Build a home' from the Cinematic Orchestra. It is a beautiful song from their album 'Ma Fleur' and features the vocals of the Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson. The band has had so many members that I can't work out who wrote the song; (probably J Swinscoe) but regardless it and the lyrics belong to them.

I am now on twitter. If you wish to find me, my name is mtr_amg. My profile pic has the awesome five inch suede pumps I bought myself for Christmas, in rust.

There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home

Cause, I built a home
For you
For me

Until it disappeared
From me
From you
And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust

(Instrumental)

Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the colour of green
Ground had arose and passed it's knees

By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me

Cause, I built a home
For you
For me

Until it disappeared
From me
From you

And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust

Levi's Tree

warning: major tissue alert

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

Paul Waggener loped up the driveway to his home. He still walked with the long easy stride he had always had even though he was almost ninety. He had been taking some of his great grandkids for a walk through the forest. His grandchildren were in their twenties.

His home. The place he and Bella had made their own. It had been his first but it had never felt like a home to him. Not until she moved in with him. She had laughed that she had fought a wolf pack for him and she virtually had. He had imprinted on her when he was seventeen. But he had tried to deny the imprint and she had come out and claimed him. He was getting his face turned to hamburger mince at the time, courtesy of Jake, so he was pretty damn glad to see her.

He wished he could see her now.

The big problem with being a long lived shape changer was that you left the people you loved behind. It hadn't taken the pack long to work that out. Vampires were less and less frequent until they reached a point where patrolling was unnecessary.

He had a dream one night. He was himself; he still looked the same and everyone he loved withered and died. In the dream, he buried his grand children when they were very old. He still looked younger than his own descendants. It wasn't a dream. It was a fucking nightmare. He'd turned into Wolverine or those blokes that ran around killing each other with swords. What was it called… Highlander?

He spoke to Jake, the alpha by then. They had all thought of something similar. They all made the decision to stop phasing. If they all did it together, it was an inbuilt support group. They had phased together and they would all stop together too.

And if there were any vampires, that honour would belong to the next generation. None of them wanted to leave their imprints behind.

But he had anyway. Cancer.

They had five kids by then. The twins were followed by a girl and then another boy. Ten years after what they thought was their last kid, she was pregnant again. He was secretly overjoyed. She was initially furious. This is all your fault, she told him as she always did. They had already given away all their baby stuff. Not that the baby needed a pram; the others carried her everywhere.

He leant against the massive tree in the yard. His chest felt tight and his skin was clammy. He was getting old he thought.

Charlie and Levi, the twins. And this bloody tree. A western red Cedar. It was now massive. Levi had planted it in the middle of the driveway. Moved a sapling from the forest in his little bucket and spade.

Bella made him leave it there. He argued that it was in the middle of the damn driveway and she had said she didn't care; they could drive around it. And then she had got him. She argued it was the tree of life for his tribe and it would be wrong to dig it out. She had always wanted a circular driveway she told him.

The boy stood there with his little bucket and spade and his big brown eyes and watched them argue. His mother's eyes.

She won. Of course she won. The tree stayed. 'And don't think you can just run over it,' she threatened him.

The bloody thing grew four feet a year. Unnatural for a cedar. Damn kid was always putting the fish guts on it. He said it was good fertiliser. Launched into a whole speech about the local trees being the size they are because of the salmon run. The salmon swim up the rivers to spawn; they lay their eggs and most of them die. Their bodies in the river feed the forest. The same nutrients people buy at the hardware store to feed their plants. And the kid knew it. No one was surprised when he became a ranger. And did a biology degree.

He remembered almost every time he had to drive around the freaking thing. How passionately she had fought for that tiny seedling. He told her one day it would fall on the house and then she'd regret it. She had just laughed and told him she'd deal with that if and when it happened. It never had.

His hand spasmed against the tree trunk. Ouch. That hurt.

He thought he was having a heart attack, he knew all the signs. He had been having them for a while. Pain in his chest, shortness of breath, and a sharp shooting pain in his left arm. But he didn't go to the doctor. He just tidied up his things, updated his will and made sure everything was written down somewhere.

He would be with her soon.

He was so glad. He had missed her.

Another sharp pain. Man, that one really hurt. One of the great-grandkids came over to show him something, took one look at him and ran for their father. Most of them were there at the moment. His children and all their kids and a few more.

They ran to him. They wanted to call an ambulance and he wouldn't let them.

They carried him to the porch. He wanted to be outside. They were still arguing about the ambulance when his youngest, Ruth spoke up.

"Let him go," she said. "He signed a DNR. You know, one of those do not resuscitate forms. He didn't tell any of you but he wants to go. He wants to be with her."

Eventually they all agree.

There is silence for a little while. There are a few tears. They tell him that they love him. Nobody seems to know what else to say. He is glad they are there in one sense, and in another he wishes he was alone.

Ruth understood. She was just like her mother; good with weird. "He told her when she died, that he'd be following her. You remember? She smiled."

She looked towards the tree. "She's here now," she said. "Standing under Levi's tree."

He suspected Ruth had been conceived up against that tree. Tree of life. Yeah.

"She's waiting for you Dad. She's wearing that red dress."

"Yes," he said. He could see her now. She waved at him the way she always did when she wanted him to hurry up.

"She's waving at us. She's so impatient," Ruth said.

She could see her too. The others still looked blank but serious, as if they believed her.

"Always," Charlie jnr said.

He looked at the faces of his children. "P-proud," he said. They nod.

He looked towards the love of his life. "I'm coming baby," he told her. He closed his eyes and he went to her.

FF_2154210_ - 7/01/2012 01:31:00 PM