So there was so much stuff still rattling around in my brain from my first story, I decided to continue it. If you haven't read Quil's Guilt, you might want to as I refer back to that story quite a bit.

I also want to thank everyone who reviewed my first story. I was very nervous about posting it and was glad no one wrote to say they hated it! I hope you enjoy this one too. I won't beg you guys for reviews, but they are nice ego boosts. Of course you are more than welcome to tell me you hate it as well. Either way, let me know what you think, I'd appreciate it!

Just on a personal note: The character of Claire's mother was named after a very dear friend of mine, Sherry, who passed away in September 2007 from brain cancer. Sherry was like a second mother to me and I miss her every day!

I don't own anything, I'm just borrowing it for a little while.

All the chapters in this story are taken from song titles. This chapter is from the song "Begin" by Ben Lee from the album "Awake is the New Asleep".

Okay I've blabbed enough. So read and I hope you enjoy!

-Roses in May-

"So I've been thinking a lot about this supervised dating thing." Claire said.

It had been nearly a month since Sharon Ortecho, Claire's mom had brought up the concept of 'supervised dating'. In essence Quil and Claire would be allowed to date as long as there was a chaperone present. Quil wasn't sure he liked the whole idea to much. It wasn't so much that he minded someone coming along on his dates with Claire, but that he just still wasn't very keen on the idea of them dating at all yet. As much as she had grown up in the last few years, Claire was still only fourteen. In the back of his mind, he couldn't get rid of the voice that swirled in his head saying 'she's too young'. Of course he thought that could also be leftover pack mind reading, because every time he had patrolled over the last month Sam made a point of thinking she's too young. It was enough to drive Quil crazy. The good news was that Claire had been so absorbed in her school activities, she hadn't mentioned dating in weeks. Quil had begun to think she had decided to back burner the idea. That was until two seconds ago.

"You have, huh?" Quil cursed mentally.

"Yes. I think it's a good idea and we should do it."

"You do, huh?"

"Yes. In fact, I think we should start as soon as possible. Because what I figure is supervised dating will very soon lead to unsupervised dating which means we can just be alone, like we used to be, but dating." Claire smiled, pleased with her reasoning.

Quil barked out a laugh. "You think it will be just that simple huh?" He loved Claire's ability to manipulate an idea to suit her expectations.

"Why wouldn't it? My mom loves you and my dad…"

"Your dad would probably like to see me castrated."

Claire shrugged. "Well that's neither here nor there, and besides, his new job has him traveling almost five days a week now."

Claire's father worked for the BIA. He had just recently been promoted as an assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs and now traveled almost constantly, leaving Claire home with her older sister Grace and her mother Sharon.

"Think about it Quil, I mean I'm going to be fifteen soon. I can't be the only freshman without a boyfriend." Claire looked at Quil and gave him her best pout.

"Number one I'm sure you are not the only freshman who doesn't have a boyfriend. I mean chess club alone must have some singles. Number two, who says I want to be your boyfriend anyway?"

Claire smiled suggestively. Her hand reached out and she brushed her fingers along the inside of Quil's thigh.

Quil closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "You really shouldn't do that when I'm driving." He tried to sound upset, but the cracking in his voice gave him away.

"Why is it…..distracting you?" She let her fingers travel up between Quil's legs, but he snatched her hand before it got anywhere and pushed it away.

"Don't." He muttered.

"God Quil, you are such a prude." Claire flopped back in her seat, arms crossed in front of her chest, pout firmly in place.

"I'm not a prude, I just…."

"I know, I know, it's not right etcetera, etcetera," Claire grumbled.

Quil looked over and tried not to smile at the scowl that was on his girl's face. His imprint had always been difficult, but over the last month or so, she had gone into full on teenage mode.

"Claire Bear don't pout. It's unbecoming."

Claire turned and stuck her tongue out at Quil.

"Well that's mature," he snorted.

When she didn't respond Quil just rolled his eyes. He'd let her pout for now. She'd get over it soon enough.

As they rode in silence, Quil concentrated on enjoying the scenery. It was the middle of fall and for once it wasn't raining. The air was cool and drenched with that crisp autumn scent - a mixture of burning leaves and dew moistened grass - and with his heightened senses, Quil couldn't help but smile at the way those smells mingled together with the dominating scent of salt from the ocean. His enjoyment of the weather almost made him forget about their argument until he went to say something about it to Claire and looked over to see the scowl still fixed firmly on her face. He thought better of opening his mouth. He felt bad that he and Claire had argued, even though he remained convinced he was in the right. However he also felt an ache in his chest that she was upset with him. The silence started to weigh on him and as he pulled into Claire's driveway the ache started to become unbearable. Claire reached for her door handle, but Quil grabbed her arm.

"Hey, I don't want you to get out when you're still mad at me."

"Then I guess we're just going to sit here," Claire snapped.

"What's the matter Claire Bear? Don't you love me anymore?" Quil fluttered his eyelashes at Claire and clasped his hands beneath his chin.

Claire gave him an exasperated look, but he could see her beginning to crack.

"Come on, forgive me?"

"Quil, I was trying to have a serious discussion about our dating future and you just blew it off."

"I didn't blow it off. I just….we can't have a serious discussion with your hand in my crotch."

"UH! My hand was not in your crotch!"

"Not for lack of trying," Quil pointed out.

"Well it doesn't matter. I don't want to talk about it with you anymore."

"No?"

"No."

"So does this mean you don't want me to be your boyfriend?"

Claire shot him a glare and sniffed. "Right now I'm thinking no."

"No?"

"Nope."

"Hmm that's a shame. I mean I don't know too many girl's whose boyfriends can do this." Quil grabbed Claire around the waist, pulled her across the front seats and out of the car. He threw her over his shoulder and began marching towards her house.

Claire, shrieking and laughing, pounded on Quil's back with her fists. "Put me down!"

"What? I can't hear you!"

"I said put me down!"

Quil stepped onto the porch, gave Claire a playful swat on her rear and set her on her feet.

While she fixed her clothes, Quil looked down at her and sighed. "Don't be mad at me okay?"

Claire shook her head and smiled. "You know I can never stay mad at you." She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Quil's waist, snuggling her head into his stomach.

Quil rubbed Claire's back and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Get inside; I'll grab your backpack."

Claire disentangled herself from Quil and opened the back door, stepping inside the house.

Once she was in, Quil closed his eyes and leaned against the back door, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. The situation he was in was getting harder to deal with by the day. He could already feel his resolve crumbling piece by piece every time Claire touched him. His mind was screaming at him that he needed to do the right thing….the smart thing. His heart was screaming that all he wanted was to make Claire happy. And his body, well his body was screaming at him that he needed to do something about this…and soon. With a sigh he pushed himself up and went to get Claire's bag from his car.

"Hey Quil," Sharon said when Quil let himself in the backdoor with Claire's backpack slung over his shoulder. "She went upstairs to change."

"Hey," Quil muttered.

Sharon turned from where she had been standing at the sink and gave Quil a look. "What's with that tone? The princess do something to piss you off?" She snickered.

"She brought up the dating," Quil grumbled.

Sharon raised her eyebrows. "Oh, that. Hmmm, I was hoping she forgot about that."

Quil nodded. "Me too."

Sharon eyed him. "Somehow I thought you might be a little more excited about the prospect than you are. What's up?"

Quil shrugged. "I dunno," he sighed and flopped down at the kitchen table, dropping Claire's bag on the floor. "I mean I want to, but at the same time I don't, you know?"

Sharon walked over and sat in the chair next to Quil. "You have reservations?"

Quil shook his head. "Yeah I mean, you know so we date, okay fine, but dating leads to serious dating which leads to serious relationship which you know….leads to all sorts of other…..stuff."

Sharon rested her chin on her hand and gave Quil a hard look. "You're worried about other stuff?"

Quil shrugged again. "A little, I guess."

"Quil, if you don't think you can handle this then I'll just tell Claire that I changed my mind. She'll hate me and all will be right in the world again. She's been way too pleasant since I brought up the dating in the first place."

"It's not me I'm worried about," Quil said quietly.

Sharon frowned. "Did something else happen with you two?"

Quil quickly shook his head. "No, no nothing has happened, it's just... Well it's like you said that day you came over to my house. Girls her age, some of them equate love with being you know….physical. I mean you saw how she reacted after that whole fiasco. Do you think she'll be able to deal with two years of dates ending with a peck on the cheek? I don't think I would even be able to do that."

"Do you want to table this for a while?"

"I don't know, I mean she'll be so disappointed. I actually physically hurt inside when I think about the look on her face if I tell her I don't want to date her."

"Well, you're not telling her you're never going to date her, you're just putting it off." Sharon sighed. "Look, ultimately it's up to you. I told you I'd be okay with it and we both know Claire is okay with it. If you think you're not ready that's fine. But at the same time it behooves me to remind you that there is a young girl up there who is head over heels for you. That isn't going to change whether you start dating now or two years from now. And honestly the fact that you are so reluctant makes me think you'd be able to handle the dating better than you think. Have some faith in yourself kiddo, I do." Sharon reached over and patted Quil's hand.

Quil shook his head an incredulous look on his face. "You know I think this is the first time in history a mother has actually had to convince a guy to ask her teenage daughter out on a date."

Sharon threw her hands in the air. "I'm not trying to convince you of anything. If you don't want to do it, then don't do it. Just remember who we're talking about here. If you think she's hard to deal with now, imagine if you go up there and crush her heart. I guess what I'm saying is you don't have to live with her. I do. Think about me Quil," Sharon smiled.

Quil laughed. "So basically you want me to date her so she isn't unbearable to live with."

"Honey, I have to live with Grace. I don't know if my nerves can handle much more."

"Well, since this is really for you," Quil said, "I guess I'm going to go upstairs and ask your daughter to go on a date with me."

"Good luck," Sharon said giving him the thumbs up. "I hope she says yes."

Quil rolled his eyes. "I think we both know that won't be a problem."

"You never know. She is a teenager. She could be upstairs talking to some new guy on the phone as we speak."

Sharon laughed heartily when Quil's eyes widened. "I'm joking! Honey if you knew how much she talked about you when you weren't around, you'd be sick of yourself. I know I'm sick of hearing about you. Go on, get out of here. Go get yourself a date."

"Thanks Sharon," Quil stood up. "I promise I'll be nothing but a gentleman."

"Oh, I know you will. Otherwise they'll be finding pieces of you scattered all over the greater Clallam County area."

Quil smiled until he saw the look Sharon was giving him.

"Yes, ma'am," he muttered. Quil grabbed Claire's bag and hurried out of the kitchen.