It's a little later than I'd hoped to be posting this chapter, but I got so encumbered by the MerMay challenge that I barely had the time to sit and write until now. I'm half way through the challenge now and have most of the rest of the month prepped, so I'm a whole lot less stressed now. I've always been an artist before being a writer, so painting every day during May has been the priority for me. Feel free to go check out my instagram to see what I've been up to. Just search AcrimoniousBlood. Maybe shoot me a message and tell me you came from here. You could even nudge me to write a little more when I have some down time. I know sometimes I need that nudge to start writing more.

Now, we're back with the next chapter, and this one felt like a pretty transitional chapter, honestly. I wouldn't quite call it filler, but it's not got a lot of excitement in it. We're just biding time now, really, until we get to some more juicy, juicy real plot. The events of Twilight are only a few months away. We're in June time now, and Twilight starts in the September of this year. When Twilight begins, we'll get into a bit more supernatural plot.

Surrender
Twilight

Sam Uley / OC

Home is where the heart is, even if you can't remember which box you packed it in

Probing the scarred inside of my cheek was a habit that I had picked up recently when I was stressed or nervous.

I had been almost obsessively licking at the inside of my cheek since I sat down in the cafe I'd chosen as our meet up place. I wasn't surprised I was this nervous. I had big news to share, and I wasn't too sure how it was going to be taken by everyone I'd planned to tell. I had my ideas, but people were known to surprise me.

I just hope no serious fights broke out when I told any of them. This was a big step for me. It may not get the reception I wanted.

Steeling myself to their reaction, my eyes raised to theirs. "I'm moving out of Forks."

My news got very different receptions from the different people I told.

"What the fuck do you mean you're moving?!"

People all around us turned, oggling the enraged woman glaring back at me. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this would be the reaction Chrissy gave me. Since I had moved back into Forks, she'd been extremely protective of me. We'd gone from best friends to practically sisters since my return. It was no wonder she was upset at the idea of me moving away.

"I mean what I said," I replied with a faux blasé attitude. I wanted to see how much I could push her. Chrissy was a little spitfire, but she worked out and got over her anger fast. That's just the sort of person she was, and I liked winding her up. I had done since we met. I'd save her from bullies any day of the week, but what was a good healthy friendship without some in-house bullying of our own? She gave it just as good as she got it anyhow. She'd get me back for this. I had no doubt about that either.

"You can't just move!" Then she did something I didn't expect from her. All the energy seemed to just drain from her and she looked up at me with such a sad expression, I felt guilt nipping at me. "What am I supposed to do without you?"

Well, teasing her was no fun if she wasn't going to get angry. Now I just felt guilty and awful. Damn. "You won't have to, idjit. I'm not moving across the country. I'll be like twenty minutes away," I answered in a false-casual tone, shrugging my inked shoulders. Just because I was moving, doesn't mean I was going to just ditch my best friend.

Her expression brightened then soured again.

I laughed when a foot connected with my shin. Now there was the Chrissy I knew and loved. "Hey, be careful! I'm delicate."

"Stupid is what you are! What the hell was that about? Being vague and stupid and gah!" She leaned back with a pout, arms crossed over her chest. "I can't believe you'd do that to me."

"Don't be a baby." I leaned on my fist, propped up on the table by my elbow. "Do you think I could ever move away from my best friend a second time? Nothing's gonna change. Well, we'll have an extra body for Rings nights, but I'd hardly call that a bad thing."

"An extra-" It twigged pretty fast for her. "Oh my God, you're moving in with Sam!" Now she really was grinning. "Man, you guys are moving fast. It's only been like, what, six months? And you're good with that? Moving so fast. Last time, y'know..."

Cane was still a rough subject. I'd moved in with him in a fraction of the time it'd taken me and Sam to make this frankly huge leap together, but Cane and I hadn't been a good decision. Sam and I? "Sometimes you just know, y'know?" Well, you did when there were supernatural forces playing matchmaker for you, that was for sure. I doubted I would feel like I was making a wrong choice with Sam.

"Yeah, I guess." She let out an odd little laugh. "You two really are serious, aren't you? Like endgame serious, huh?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think we are." There was no thinking about it. Imprinting was basically a life sentence. I was more than okay with that. Sam was... Sam was incredible. I couldn't ask for anyone better.

Carlisle and Esme had equally predictable reactions.

Esme wilted slightly in her chair. Carlisle laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and waited with silent patience for me to explain the situation.

Emmett, who occasionally came along to our coffee meets, developed a furrow between his brows. Emmett and I had a strange sort of friendship between us, built mostly around teasing (almost to the point of straight-up asshole comments at times) banter until the other conceded surrender. We'd laugh it off every time, even if sometimes Esme fretted over us being too rough with each other. "Have I scared you off so easily, short stuff?" he blustered, a grin stretching across his face. I could still see the dimness in his usually extremely expressive amber eyes.

"You wish, meathead. I'm not going far. You're not safe from me teaching you a lesson in Esme's place." I grinned back at him, mine a much more true grin, which he mirrored. "Can't let you get off scot-free, can I?" Not that he would ever actually get off scot-free. Esme had that quiet I-m-not-angry-at-you-I'm-just-disappointed response when she wasn't happy with something you did, and that always hit harder than any yelling or actual punishments she could dole out. The guilt of that ate you alive. Ol' Grampy Pad had the same deal going on himself. It was torture for me as a kid.

"Where are you moving to, dear?" Esme had perked up again, just like I expected her to.

"Just to La Push. Sam and I are getting a place together. A sweet little cottage off Rialto. Maybe you all can come help us break the place in. We're planning a little house-warming party." The offer was almost a test. When Sam had told me Quileute stories and legends that late December evening, he'd of course mentioned the Cold Ones, the vampires, that had incited the Werewolf curse. The more he'd said about Cold Ones, the more I'd come to realise I knew some people very much like that. It had explained why Jared hadn't gotten on with Carlisle at the hospital.

Still, I wondered why none of the boys had tried to warn me about them, if the Vampire legends were true.

The three potential vampires in front of me shared subtle looks with each other. Just like I expected them to.

I really needed to talk with Sam about my suspicions.

"We'd love to," Carlisle began in the universal not-a-chance-but-I'll-be-polite-about-it tone. "But perhaps not soon. We're planning a short break soon. We'll be away for a few weeks. Perhaps a month. We're going up to Denali."

"Oh, you're going to visit Tanya?" Their Alaskan friends had been talked about before, at length. Tanya sounded like the sort of person I'd enjoy getting to know. In fact, the both of us had a casual sort of acquaintance through Carlisle. We'd never met officially, but we sent our regards back and forth through him. I was talked about to people as much as the Denali contingent was talked about here, apparently. As friends are, I guess. "Let her know I said hi."

"Certainly. We'll try and arrange a phone call sometime while we're there. Tanya's shown quite an interest in speaking to you without the use of me as a buffer."

I grinned. "I'm so up for that."

There was absolutely nothing wrong with making friends in new areas. It made for great getaway opportunities.

Though I'd probably have to buy much warmer boots if I wanted to vacation in Alaska.

"So how did you find the house, dear?" Esme asked, coming into her own. This was her conversation now. The boys could sit and wait it out. "How much renovating does it need?"

"Well, Sam and I were on our way back from visiting his mom, on the 110." A crooked little smile twitched at the corners of my gnarled lips.

"That...didn't go terrible," I decided hesitantly, looking into the little mirror on the passenger side sun visor. Then my eyes cut to Sam, worried that I'd read the whole experience wrong. "It didn't go terrible, right?"

He was chuckling to himself, keeping his eyes on the road as we passed by the Strawberry Bay Falls trailhead. Aww, that was where I met Jared, and a little later on Paul. Both boys had been in and out, visiting my little apartment when they had the chance. Checking in on me when Sam wasn't around was my guess. I appreciated the company, either way.

"Sam!"

"She likes you," he assured, his laughter now shaking his broad shoulders. "She really likes you. Stop worrying."

Instead of carrying on straight ahead towards Forks, Sam turned left onto Mora road.

"Where are we going, Akela?"He obviously hadn't turned down the wrong path by accident. He'd travelled this road a hundred times or more in his life. So he'd meant to turn down this road. Were we going on an impromptu trip to Rialto or something? It was overcast, but not a terrible beach day, I supposed. Though I was still more than a little wary about going to any La Push beach right now. Things had just gone well with Allison. I didn't need to bury that under any crap from people whispering about me stealing Sam from one of theirs.

"If you'd be patient, you'll see."

Damn. I'd hoped that he would give in quickly and tell me where we were going.

No such luck apparently.

Luckily for me, it was only a few minutes before the truck rolled to a stop at the end of a cute little driveway. The cottage was half hidden away by the massive trees surrounding it, but the porch was big and housed a wooden swing bench and some planters that needed some serious TLC. All the plants were dead, giving the cottage a weird, eerie vibe.

So distracted by what I could see, I didn't even notice Sam had gotten out of the car until he was opening my door for me. I slid out of the truck and followed Sam towards the front door.

I expected him to knock, let the owner of the place know we were here, but he unlocked the front door and gestured for me to go inside.

The place was dusty and dark. It clearly hadn't been lived in for a good long while. But it was cozy. The furniture was all wood and leather, swathed in the beautiful Quileute woven blankets I'd admired so many times in the past.

"It used to be my grandparents place. My grandma died a couple years ago, left this place empty. Technically it belongs to my dad, but-" He shrugged. His dad wasn't in the picture, so for all intents and purposes, the place was Allison's. "I've been trying to clean up this place for a while, fix the plumming, make sure all the wirings good. It's just about done."

There was a purposeful quiet for a moment.

Oh!

"Sam Uley, are you asking me to move in with you?" I didn't want to assume that was what the silence was hinting at, but that was the first thing my mind had conjured up.

I watched him carefully as she shifted his weight and looked away. His typical I-m-grounding-myself move. What was he thinking?

"Well the house is here, and I've been wanting to move out of my mom's place for a while. I know you're not totally comfortable in your apartment." Was he rambling? Oh my God, Sam was rambling.

"Yes."

"Really?" Hope lit up his expression.

"Of course, you lumbering idiot. What else would I say?" Maybe I could have thought about it more. Moving in with someone was a huge step in any relationship, and ours wasn't really the smoothest so far. We got on like a house on fire, and being with each other was easy, but the supernatural element definitely led for a bit of drama neither of us were really expecting in a relationship when we thought about one. I caught Sam staring at my scars more often than I'd like him to be. The supernatural influence, and the consequences of that, in our relationship were clearly difficult for the both of us to cope with. But what we had was good.

His hot lips almost seared the skin of my face, cheeks, neck, lips as he kissed me over and over again.

I needed to rustle up some boxes stat.

Short and transitionary, as I said, but I liked this chapter. It was cute and quite fun to write. Gotta love a couple in love, right? And soon they're going to be moving in together! Aren't they cute?

I hope y'all liked this chapter as much as I liked writing it! Let me know what you think, and I hope I'll see you again soon!

I have a little fun drama planned for the next chapter. It isn't going to be fun for Peggy, that's for sure. It's something big that I haven't addressed just yet that's going to have quite an impact on Peggy. Can anyone guess what that is?

animexchick - Thank's for the review. That is indeed the reference. Well done!

Guest - I think Leah deserves some sympathy. I've had something similar happen to me and my partner before, and it hurt for a long time. Leah's definitely taking her hurt out on others, which isn't right, but I know the pain and I can't condemn her for feeling the way she is. I can, however, condemn her for the childish behaviour. That will be addressed later, I promise.

Simone - She will stand up for herself sometime soon. It won't be right away, unfortunately, but she'll get to a point where she can't deal with the childishness of it all. She isn't confrontational, but she isn't one to take bullshit laying down, either.

Veronica - Peg's pretty much dragged herself out of her pity party now. Life goes on, and she intends to enjoy it. Though Leah will become a pretty big character in this story. I like Leah as a character, I genuinely do, and I can't wait to get stuck into writing her more and in different lights. Leah's time as a great character will come.

Guest - Haha, I get what you mean. She's been a big roadblock for Sam and Peggy since day one, but unfortunately, she'd not going to just disappear. Leah will become quite a big character in this fic, and I'm excited to reach that point. I love Leah and really want to write more with her.

Lizzy - Me too, so much. I love long hair. But unless we want long-haired werewolves rocking around, the long hair, sadly, has to be cropped. Let's have a moments silence for the loss of such great potentially long-haired characters.

Scarlett - Haha, well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, then! Definitely not just like Emily, but she will absolutely become the den mother of the pack. Peg already loves Jared, and she'll come to love Paul, too. We're still almost two years away from Embry turning, so it'll just be the three of them for a while. They'll be a beautiful family.

ReadingRainbow7 - Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well.