*Peeks out from under rock*

Sooooo... How you guys doing? Um... Eight months is better than twelve? Yeah, I got nothing. But here's a chapter, so yayyyyyy?

Anyone going to Forks in three weeks? I'll be there. And bestie is coming for her first, and probably only, time! Gonna be a blast! Speaking of bestie, she beta'd the shit out of this for you guys, so thanks Mel! This is a nice cute little fluffy chapter. Enjoy it. I think shit's gonna hit the fan soon, maybe in two or three more chapters. So in other words, by 2018. I kid, I kid! Maybe.

Family Ties

Ch 12- Damn You, Richard Sherman

Before:

Half an hour later, I came downstairs to find Seth on my couch with a bag of Cheetos in his lap, and the Seahawks just starting the second quarter.

He turned to look at me and his smile dropped. "You can't wear that!"

"What? Why not?"

"That's a Jets shirt! Don't you know who they're playing today?"

"Yeah, the Seahawks, you've got the game on already," I answered.

"Alex." He set the bag aside and stood up. "Do you even know where you live now? For your own safety, please change your shirt?"

I paused. He was really serious. "Oh, okay," I said. "I didn't realize it was that serious around here."

Ten minutes later, now wearing a navy v-neck t-shirt, I rode in Seth's car as we turned off the 101 and flew up the 110 toward La Push.

I just hoped none of the wolves were hungry.

Now:

"So, how do you feel?" Seth kept his eyes on the road while he waited for my answer. "I mean, did the hunting help? You didn't puke, right?"

I covered my face with my hand. "Oh my God, how did you hear about that?" I groaned.

"Remember how I said we can all hear each other's thoughts? Well, Ness told Jake, so…"

I groaned again, shaking my head. "So embarrassing," I muttered.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's really not, I promise. So? Did it help? Today?"

I finally gave him a smile and a nod.

"Yeah," I said. "It really did. We ran a lot faster on the way back. I had no idea it would make that big of a difference."

Seth smirked and glanced at me, then back to the road.

"Maybe you'll be able to keep up with us fur balls without the help of a car, now."

I playfully slapped his arm but he just laughed.

The constant company of the trees broke up ahead. We went around a curve to the right, while on our left the view opened up to the ocean where huge waves broke on the rocky shore, and around three large rock outcroppings that jutted up from the sea. I couldn't stop staring until we came down a hill and my view was once again obstructed by trees.

"You live here?" I asked.

"Yeah. Nice, huh?"

"Seth, it's gorgeous." And it was. It rivaled Cape Flattery in beauty.

He smiled. "Yeah."

He made a couple more turns and we were driving through residential blocks. The houses were fairly small and cookie cutter. We drove straight through until the road took a turn into the dense trees and the houses immediately became spaced further apart. Another five minutes and Seth pulled up to a small, rustic looking house, completely secluded far back in the trees away from any wandering eyes.

"This is Sam and Emily's place," he said as he shifted the car into park. "Um, just a quick warning, don't stare at Emily's face. Sam'll get pretty mad if he catches you. She was… there was an accident, a long time ago."

I nodded. "Okay, no problem," I said. Apparently he didn't know cops knew how to be discreet when meeting people with disfigurements. I had a good poker face, and after some of the stuff I had seen in Brooklyn, I doubted this would faze me.

But then again, vampires and mutant wolves… Maybe I would be surprised.

Seth met me at the front of the car and took my hand, his fingers interlacing with mine and we walked up to the small, gray house.

We entered into an eat in kitchen. The scent of freshly made rolls and macaroni and cheese still hung in the air, but otherwise it was empty. Voices and laughter echoed from outside, in the rear of the house. Seth nodded his head toward the noise and tugged me through a modest living room to a back door, and then we were outside.

There was a large group of men and women out here, some kids running around. Most of the guys were shirtless and had their mouths stuffed with food. One man stood at the grill, his back to me. The majority of the group was converged around a picnic table covered with food. I picked out Jake and Nessie sitting together in the grass a few yards away, Jake shoveling potato salad into his hole, Nessie using a fork to eat her food in a much more civil way. I waved at them and Jake nodded back, Nessie smiled and waved her free hand.

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to notice Seth and me, and when they did, silence took over. The man at the grill turned to look over his shoulder and recognition colored his face. He tapped a younger man near him and handed him the tongs.

"Alex, right?" he said, walking over to me.

I nodded, suddenly feeling shy with every pair of eyes trained on me.

"Alex, this is Sam," Seth said.

"Oh, your fearless leader."

Seth snorted. "Actually Jake is my fearless leader, but yeah."

No one else seemed amused.

"Let's go talk inside," Sam said.

The three of us stepped back into the house, followed by Jake, who closed the door behind himself with one hand while he held a chicken thigh to his face with the other, sucking the meat off the bone. Sam gestured to the well worn sofa and I sat, Seth sinking into the cushion next to me. Sam dropped into the recliner across from us and Jake stayed standing by the door, frequently glancing out the window, toward Nessie I was sure.

Sam took a deep breath and slowly blew it out before looking up at me. "First, I want to apologize for how I handled your arrival. I jumped the gun and made assumptions, that were obviously incorrect. We can never be too careful when it comes to the safety of humans."

He stopped talking and stared at me, obviously waiting for a response.

"Oh," I said, finally catching on. "Um, don't worry about it, it's cool."

He nodded and continued. "Do you know about the treaty?"

I glanced quickly to Seth, and back to Sam. "I know that you have an agreement with the Cullen's that they not drink from humans," I said. "But that's about all I know about it."

"That's basically the main point, yes," Sam agreed. "If you are to remain in this area, I have to insist you abide by the same terms. You may not drink from, bite, kill or otherwise harm a human in any way."

Already I saw a major flaw with this treaty.

"Normally, the treaty stipulates that vampires are not allowed on Quileute land, but we've made an exception for Nessie, because she is an imprint," Sam continued. "And now that exception is extended to you as well."

"I'm a cop," I said simply.

Sam's blank stare and the awkward silence that followed my confession told me nobody followed my thinking.

"If a human puts up a fight while I'm trying to do my job, I have no choice but to do what I have to do."

Sam sighed, finally getting it. "You're right." He looked at Jake, who shrugged back. "We'll add in another exception," Sam said. "We will review any cases where a human has sustained injury or death at your hands on a case by case basis. If it was the result of you doing your job and staying within the guidelines of the police department, we will let the proper authorities handle it."

"Great, so I've basically got two Internal Affairs departments to deal with," I said wryly.

My comment was ignored as Sam continued.

"Have you ever fed on a human before?"

I wrinkled my nose. "No, of course not," I said. "I didn't even know I… about my condition until last Tuesday."

Sam's face crumpled in confusion as he looked to Jacob and back to me. "How have you… managed your… thirst all these years?"

"Steak," I said flatly. "Rare steaks, mostly."

"But she hunted with me today," Seth added in brightly.

Sam's eyebrows raised high. "Successfully?"

I groaned and dropped my face into my hands once again. "Oh my God, does everyone know?"

The three of them chuckled at my humiliation and Sam stood. "Not very many secrets among us," he said, and then continued to the door. "Come on and grab some food before these gluttons eat it all."

Jacob winked at me before following Sam back outside, bare chicken bones in his hand. I mean, literally bare; even the cartilage was sucked off.

Seth smiled tentatively at me and we stood at the same time to go search for whatever food was left.

As we stepped out, I saw that Sam had remanned the grill. There was a small radio on the foldable card table that played the Jets- er, I mean, the Seahawks game. Seth pounced immediately on the food, as though he hadn't just eaten an entire elk by himself just a few hours ago. The paper plate sagged under the weight of the food he piled on.

"Hi Alex," a woman appeared in front of me smiling. Well, half smiling; the right side of her face was terribly disfigured by three long lines dragging down it. The left side of her face, however, was gorgeous. "I'm Emily," she continued, "Sam's wife. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Seth just goes on and on about you."

I smiled back at her, trying not to be obvious about scoping the grill. "Oh, yeah, hi, it's nice to meet you too."

She chuckled, my ruse not as covert as I'd hoped, and handed me a plate. "You must be hungry, help yourself. I'll be right over there with the girls."

I nodded and smiled in acknowledgment and she went off to sit with a group of women on the grass while I stood next to the grill waiting for a cheeseburger. Sadly, there were no ribs like I'd hoped.

As Sam scooped a patty off the grill and deposited it onto my plate, the radio caught my attention.

"…Sanchez sacked by Seattle's Sherman, the ball is loose! Here comes Jones, number ninety, with the recovery. Eleven thirty-two to go in the fourth here at Century Link Field, where the Seahawks lead the Jets, 21-7."

"What?" I shrieked. "They were tied! They were just tied, how the hell is Seattle up by two touchdowns?"

The crowd went silent, except for the radio commentator and the sizzle of the grill. I could feel every eye on me. I quickly looked around to verify that I had indeed made a grave faux pas.

"Uh, I mean," I squeaked out, "go Hawks?"

"Alex," one of the older men of the group said slowly, "are you a Jets fan?"

The way he said "Jets" with such disdain, he practically spit the word out, it may as well have been a cuss.

"Umm…." I nervously glanced around until I found Seth's eyes, which were wide with horror. Jacob sat next to him trying not to laugh.

"Okay, look, you know what?" I swung my gaze back to the one who had asked the question and forced my tone to be strong. "Yeah. I am a Jets fan. I'm from New York. Loyalty like that doesn't die with a three-thousand mile move. Once a Jets fan, always a Jets fan, win or lose. And if you all can't accept me for that, then fine, your loss. But I'm not going to change who I am just to impress you."

There were a couple "ooooh"s groaned out and an "uh oh" or two while the hater stared me down and I stared right back.

"Paul," Sam growled behind me in warning.

Paul didn't overtly acknowledge him at all, but held my gaze for another moment before smirking widely and pointing at me.

"You're all right," he finally said, and chomped a huge bite out of his burger.

I felt the corner of my mouth quirk up a bit as I went to the table and grabbed some essentials to add to my plate. I turned and headed toward Emily and the other women, imprints, I assumed, and made sure Seth saw my filthy glare on my way.

I sat in a loose circle on the grass with Emily, Rachel, Kim, Nessie, Claire, Christine, Danielle and Leah, while Sam and Emily's kids, Sam Jr and Emma, ran circles around us playing some convoluted version of tag. Everyone, besides the kids and Leah, was another imprint. Leah, bless her heart, was the only female shifter. We sat and ate and talked, a lot about me since I was the newbie. It was basically a get-to-know-you session while the guys started a pick up football game. The Hawks game ended, my poor Jets brutally crushed 28-7. I bet they'd have won if somebody hadn't insisted I changed my shirt.

The sky had begun to dim by the time the game was over, and a couple of the guys bowed out of the pick up game to start a fire in the fire pit. Barely an hour later the food was all gone and the stars were out, presumably behind the cloud cover through which the moon made a periodic appearance. The game ended and the guys all converged around the fire pit, and the women in my circle all stood and followed suit, finding seats next to their…. um, imprints. The whole thing was still weird to me.

I followed behind the rest of the group and was last to arrive. Seth had saved me a spot and I sunk down onto the ground between him and Nessie. He found my hand and squeezed it while giving me a smile before turning to look at Sam, as did, I now noticed, everyone else. I looked up at him, his face eerily lit by the fire from below, as he began to speak.

"The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning, and we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is because there has always been magic in our blood. It wasn't always the magic of shape-shifting - that came later. First, we were spirit warriors." (1)

Sam told the stories of first the spirit warrior, Kaheleha, and then Taha Aki and Utlapa, finally rounding out the night with the stories of the Cold Ones, always speaking in a deep, majestic voice. It was as though the magic in his blood he had referred to emanated out with his voice and drew me in. It was almost like hearing scary stories around a fire, only these stories, I knew, were real. It didn't take long for me to figure out these stories were the tribes actual histories, normally saved only for those in the know. I squeezed Seth's hand, which still held mine, in appreciation. I was officially accepted, it would seem.

"While our relationship with the Cold Ones, one coven in particular, has certainly changed in recent years, we must always be wary, prepared, always on guard. Especially with newcomers." At this, Sam's, as well as most of the rest of the group's, eyes landed on me briefly. "When a threat turns out to be not a threat, but, in fact, a friend, it is always a relief. But we must always remember our priority: the safety of humans, of the tribe."

After a short, heavy silence, the group slowly began to break up. One of the younger guys, Brady, doused the fire before taking Christine's hand and waving a goodbye to everyone.

"So what did you think of your first council meeting?"

I turned as I stood to face Nessie as Seth ran over to say goodbyes.

"Council meeting?" I asked dubiously. "I thought this was just a barbecue."

"Barbecue slash council meeting," she said with a grin. "The council is made up of Sam, Jacob, and Quil. The pack and their imprints are the only ones allowed."

"So was this my official induction?"

She giggled. "I guess so. They don't tell the histories to just anyone, you know."

I nodded. "Yeah, I figured."

A warm hand grasped mine once again and I turned and looked up into Seth's eyes.

"You ready to go?"

I nodded, said goodbye to Nessie, and followed Seth out toward the house, saying goodbye and good night to everyone as we passed. We cut back through the house out to the front where Seth's car was parked. He let go of my hand to open my door and close it behind me.

Such a gentleman.

As soon as he had finished backing up to turn around and head back down the long driveway, his hand was back on mine. Part of me wanted to protest. I just was not this sappy. But I couldn't deny that it felt nice. Our hands seemed to meld together almost perfectly, our fingers interlocked just right. And while his hand was definitely a lot warmer than what I was used to when I had contact with other people, it wasn't overly warm. It just felt… right.

We had made it back through La Push and had just turned on to the 110 when Seth spoke.

"So, what'd you think?"

Replaying the afternoon quickly in my head, I remembered something I had thought of earlier.

"You jerk, Seth Clearwater!" I slapped him on the arm with right hand. I didn't hold back either, and he flinched. "I could have worn my Jets shirt without risk of homicide or hate crime, and they probably would have won!"

He just grinned and laughed. "Why do you think I didn't want you to wear it? We needed this win."

My jaw dropped. It was all a ploy.

"You… You…"

"Yes? Me?"

"You mongrel!"

I yanked my hand out of his and crossed my arms over my chest to pout.

"Hey! Oh, come on, I'm sorry Alex, I was just having a little fun. Can't we have a little team rivalry without resorting to mean name calling? That's kind of rude."

"So is tricking me into not wearing my lucky shirt," I grumbled.

Seth made the turn onto the 101 and we were heading back into Forks. He tried a few times to get me to lighten up, but now I was just being stubborn. It was the principle of the thing.

A few minutes later we pulled up in front of my house, next to my shiny blue Lexus. As soon as the car was in park, I unbuckled the seat belt and got out, going straight for my front door. I heard Seth right behind me.

"Are you really that mad?" he asked, following me up the steps. "You really gonna let one little football game come between us?"

Keys in hand, I turned on the spot and looked up at him, debating.

"To be honest, it probably wouldn't have made a difference," he continued. I guess he missed my narrowed eyes, because he kept talking. "The Jets suck this year, and the Hawks are on fire, I think they might actually go all the way to-"

"Good night Seth," I said, turning to unlock my door.

"Wait wait wait!" He reached out for my arm and gently pulled me back to him. "Okay, seriously. I'm sorry. How can I make it up to you?"

"Stop ripping on my team, for one," I said.

He failed at fighting a smirk.

"And I will be wearing my lucky Jets shirt every Sunday from now until February."

"Not Mondays, though," he clarified.

I looked up and determinedly met his eyes. "I will be wearing that shirt any day there is a football game, from now until the Super Bowl, regardless if the Jets are playing or not. And you will need to accompany me in public at least twice while I'm wearing it."

He grimaced, but acquiesced. "Okay. That's fair."

That was definitely not the reaction I had expected. I had been expecting some kind of resistance, a compromise at the very least.

"Well, good then," I said, raising my chin a little. "I'm glad we could come to an agreement."

He grinned widely then. "Me too," he said quietly. That's when I noticed the look on his face. That pre-kiss look. That kind of dreamy, happy, anticipatory look as his head dipped lower. He was going to kiss me again.

And, damn it, I didn't even want to resist this time.

(1) Eclipse, page 244

Soooo? What did we think?

I have been working on another one shot, inspired by a group conversation with a few members of Team Fireball. It's silly and a little crackish... okay, a lot crackish. I don't want to give up the plot just yet, but I'm hoping now that I've finally finished this chapter, I can finish up this one shot and get it posted.

Thanks for reading, and remember to leave me some love!

Ren