The Edge

xviii.

Bella and Edward had finally got to see their wedding present, a house in the woods. The Cullen family took care of Renesmee for the rest of the night until the parents returned the next day. "Wow, done already?" Emmett mused when the couple entered the Cullen home. Bella looked at Emmett amused, and Emma looked at her father in disgust. "Where's Renesmee?" Bella ignored Emmett now, searching for her daughter. "Blondie stole her." Jacob motioned outside where her mother was with Renesmee. "She misses the baby phase." Emma rolled her eyes at her mother's gushing over her cousin, but she was amused. "Break a lot of stuff?" Emmett continued to mess with the newlyweds, Bella silently scolding him. Everyone in the room laughed as Jacob continued to much on his lunch and watched over Renesmee. The home phone began to ring and the mood in the room darkened. "Charlie?" Bella looked at Carlisle expectantly. "He's in pretty rough shape." Jacob informed Bella, who looked down at the phone sadly. "Eventually we'll have to inform his you didn't make it." Carlisle informed the girl softly. "He needs to mourn, Bella." Edward tried to be supportive of his wife in her new form. "Okay, we'll do it tomorrow." Bella agreed as she returned to her husband's side. "I'm going to miss this place." Emmett sighed as he put the newspaper down and moved to stand.

"We'll come back; we always do." Carlisle promised and Emma pursed her lips at the the topic of conversation. "Wait, nobody said anything about leaving." Jacob turned away from the window and addressed the family. "Once people believe Bella's dead, we can't risk anyone seeing her." Carlisle pointed out the need for their disappearance. "So, you just disappear?" Jacob looked at the Cullen family in betrayal. "Jacob, we don't have any other choice." Edward defended the family's decision. "What about Paul? Are you just going to leave him like your last boyfriend? Like you left us?" Jacob targeted Emma as he immediately assumed she would move with her family. "I'm not leaving Paul, I'll stay behind." Emma spoke softly, glancing over at Emmett. Emma had spoken with her parents when Bella showed signs of transitioning and they agreed that she could stay in town if it was what she truly wanted. Jacob relaxed slightly at the information but was still devastated that Renesmee was going to be taken from him. The shifter stormed out of the home and Emma sighed as she walked him jump on his motorcycle and leave. "And they say Paul has a temper." Emma rolled her eyes at the shifter's actions. "Speaking of the devil, weren't you supposed to be meeting him today?" Emmett questioned his daughter, whose eyes widened. "Crap, I was supposed to help Emily make lunch." Emma realized as she rushed to grab her keys from the kitchen.

"Sorry, I'm late." Emma apologized as she rushed into the Uley home. "Oh please, you're fine. The boys won't be back for another 30 minutes." Emily smiled back at Emma from her place in the kitchen. "Emma, have you met Kim yet? Jared's girlfriend." Emily pointed out the presence of another person. Emma turned toward the kitchen table with wide eyes. "Hi." Emma spoke softly, surprised at the presence of another girl. "Hi." Kim blushed back with a smile, staring at the bright color of Emma's eyes. "It's nice to finally meet you, now I can put a face to the name." Emma was polite with the shy girl, remembering how Paul had mentioned her and Jared's relationship. "How's Seth's school going?" Emily started conversation with the blonde. "You're a saint for helping him for so long, he's adorable, but has the attention span of a goldfish." Emma sighed dramatically as she answered the woman. Sue Clearwater was okay with her son joining Jacob's pack officially as long as he found a way to do school, so Emma had taken over as his part-time teacher and helped him with cyber school. "Kin, Emm ais helping Seth with school now that he's joined Jacob's pack." Emily tried her hardest to include the girl in the conversation. "That's so nice of you. It must be fun teaching a 14-year-old werewolf." Kim smiled at the blonde, taking a bite of her muffin. "Definitely." Emma let out a small laugh with the girl.

"So, Kim, how did you and Jared meet?" Emma tried to keep the girl included. "Oh, we go-went to high school together." Kim corrected herself when she realized her boyfriend basically stopped going to school after he shifted. "That's cool." Emma smiled at Kim as she offered to help Emily make sandwiches for the boys. "Yeah, so how did you and Paul meet?' Kim asked innocently but Emily let out a loud laugh. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Kim worried when she heard the reaction. "No, Paul and I's relationship isn't exactly...conventional." Emma tried to think of a way to explain the interesting series of events that lead to them coming together. "Oh?" Kim looked intrigued now, Jared had told her about Paul's vampire imprint but didn't elaborate further. "We met when we were chasing a vampire that was trying to kill Bella Swan, I caught the vampire by the leg and would've had her but-" Emma was cut off when the door opened. "But I ruined her grip and the vampire got away, or as she likes to think." Paul walked in the door, a bunch of rowdy shifters behind him. "She always forgets to mention she crossed the treaty line." Embry butted into the conversation, causing Emma to look at him in betrayal.

"Ouch, Em. Since when do you take Paul's side?" Emma gasped at her friend as Paul made his way over to her. "Since you chose Jake over us." Embry playfully glared at the blonde. "Uhuh, just like you chose Jake when he was talking crap on my relationship, right?" Emma bantered back as she pointed out when they were at the beach a week ago. Embry's eyes widened and he immediately went quiet, turning his interest to something else. "Are you done?" Paul looked amused at Emma's arguing with Embry. "I could argue some more." Emma shrugged honestly as Paul placed his hands on her hips. "Hmm, I'm sure you could." Paul smirked as Emma wrapped her arms around his neck. Emma smiled at the shifter, leaning forward, and connecting her lips with his. "Gross." Quil wrinkled his nose at the sight of his friend kissing his pack member. Paul swatted his hand in the direction of Quil and pulled away from the kiss. "I think your friends are lonely." Paul mocked the pair as he pulled Emma into him, her back against his chest. "Nonsense, Quil took his cousin to prom." Embry pulled out the running joke that had definitely gotten old. "At least I have an imprint, you dick." Quil glared at Embry, annoyed that Embry still thought the joke was funny. Emma laughed at her friends as she leaned into Paul some more.

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"Emma." the alpha's voice wasn't as lighthearted as everyone else. Emma pulled herself away from Pual as she turned to Sam, alarmed. "Can I talk to you?" Sam motioned for the blonde to follow him outside to the porch. Paul looked between the two in concern, but Emma simply nodded and followed Sam outside. "Billy Black gave me some new information this morning, I'm assuming you are aware." Sam remained emotionless as he vaguely searched for answers. "If this is about my family leaving, you don't have to worry, I wouldn't leave Paul like that." Emma assumed that Jacob had returned home after his outburst that morning. "That's reassuring, however that's the smaller of the concerns I have. Are you aware that Jacob revealed our secret to Charlie Swan this morning?" Sam gave the blonde a small appreciative nod. "He what?" Emma's eyes widened at the information, was he even allowed to do that? "I understand why Jacob did it and since the pack split, he is able to make that decision for himself, however I informed him that he must still keep our pack a secret. I expect you can assist him with that?" Sam looked at Emma to take responsibility for keeping the pack a secret from Charlie. "I-uh-I can try my best." Emma nodded slowly, still in shock from the information. "You should be the one to tell Paul about your family's situation, but Emily would like you to know that you always have a home here if you need it." Sam finished the conversation before turning away and heading inside.

Emma pulled out her phone and looked for any sign that her family had called. She realized she had 2 missed calls from Emmett and Edward, along with a message from Jacob. Emma must have bene looking at her phone too long because Paul came outside and interrupted his thinking. "Hey, you okay?" Paul walked over to the blonde. "Uh-yeah, just family drama." Emma slid her phone back in her pocket knowing she would need to go home earlier than she originally planned. "Want to go for a walk?" Emma looked up at Paul, who gave a small nod. Emma let out a heavy sigh and grabbed Paul's hand as they moved toward the gravel path in the woods. "You want to tell me what's wrong?" Paul questioned the girl after a few minutes of silence. "My family made the decision to move last night." Emma started the conversation with honesty and Paul stopped in his tracks. "You're leaving?" Paul dropped Emma's hand as his body began to warm faster. "No, I-I wouldn't want to do that to you. Emily told me how painful it can be when an imprintee leaves for an extended period of time." Emma immediately jumped to comfort the shifter. "You can't say things like that to me." Paul shook his head as he tried to slow his breathing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really think about it." Emma immediately felt back for how she started the conversation. "With Bella's transition, my family decided to leave town. Jake found out this morning and didn't take it well." Emma continued to explain as Paul grabbed her hand again, partly in an effort to calm himself down. "That's not surprising." Paul led the couple back down the path. "I haven't been home to learn everything but apparently he told Charlie about his ability to shift so that we wouldn't leave." Emma explained all that she knew so far. "So, what? Charlie Swan know knows about vampires and werewolves?" Paul looked at the blonde flabbergasted. "I don't know, I'm probably going to have to go home early to find all of that out. Jake messaged me but it was very brief, btu he definitely knows about werewolves." Emma explained everything she knew. "He's a complete idiot." Paul scoffed at his old pack member. "He's definitely someone who thinks before he does things. Sam told me that Jacob isn't allowed to share the identity of you guys, just his pack." Emma added on about her conversation with Sam. "That's smart, Charlie shouldn't know anything." Paul agreed with Sam's stance on the situation. Emma simply hummed at her imprint's words and continued walking with him.