Sense of Belonging ( Paul Lahote LS)

His Nemo

I woke up a couple hours later and looked at the clock seeing that it was now 6:30pm. I slowly slide myself out of bed and make my way downstairs.

I walk downstairs and see Jared putting groceries away. He turns around to face me once he hears me approaching.

"Hey Jare. Thank you so much for getting the groceries." I say as I give him a quick hug.

"No problem little warrior.
I mean imma need the food too since I'm going to be staying with you for the next month." He reminds causing me to laugh a little and hum in agreement.

I zone out and get lost in thought before something suddenly comes into my mind. "Jared.... I need to ask you something and I need you to be honest okay?" I shyly ask and he looks at me curiously and slowly nods his head, silently telling me to continue.

I take a deep breath before speaking "why did you keep looking for me? I mean you didn't need to do that yet you've been looking for me for the last four months. Why?" I ask him genuinely confused as to why he didn't just give up.

"Anya you're my Nemo. If you got lost in the great big ocean, I'll find you. And you did get lost and you're my family. I couldn't lose my family, especially not you. You're like the little sister I've always wanted." He told me and I could hear and see the emotions written all over his face and dripped into every word he said.

I started tearing up and looked at the ground with a smile on my face as I tried to keep the tears at bay. "You're my family too Jared. I've always wanted a big brother. Someone to protect me and when I found you, you filled that part of me that was missing. I may have left but I promise you that there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't think about you and the pack." I admitted softly and he walked over to me and pulled me into another hug.

"I guess we're both each others Nemo's huh?" He said while laughing making me chuckle and nod into his chest.

"Yea we are. And I wouldn't have it any other way." I sniffled and he pulled back slightly to wipe away my tears.

"Now we need to get you and my little niece some food. Gotta make sure that mamma wolf and little wolf are fed." He told me sternly but I could see the playful look in his eyes.

It was a look that I had missed seeing. One that always made me feel better no matter what.

"Yea we do. And we have to feed your impatient ass of course." I teased giggling causing him to bite back a smile as he gently pushed my shoulder just making me laugh even more.

My laughter seemed to make him happy as he soon joined in on my laughing fit and tears pricked at the corners of my eyes from laughing so hard until they turned into real tears. Ughh stupid pregnancy hormones.

"Little warrior why are you crying?" Jared asked his face scrunching up into one of concern as he quickly tried to soothe me.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I left you. I shouldn't have left you guys but I just needed to get away from him." I cried as he pulled me back into his arms and I sobbed into his chest.

"No, no, no don't worry. You have nothing to be sorry about. While we all missed and worried about you, we completely understood. If something like that were to happen to me I would do the same thing. And you have even more of an excuse since you're pregnant with his child. Besides none of that matters right now because we're together again." He gently comforted me while softly running his fingers through my hair.

I smiled at his words and pulled away as a brilliant idea came to mind. "Oh my god! Can we watch Finding Nemo!?" I asked bouncing up and down on my feet.

He looked down at me and laughed. "Of course we can tiny. Hell we'll have a whole movie marathon. Huh what do you think?" He suggested and I smiled even more.

"Yes! You're a genius!" I told him and the smile on my face never faltered. He shook his head while laughing and led me back over to the couch.

I grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. I went onto Disney plus and clicked on Finding Nemo. For the rest of the night we sat there together and watched all of our favorite movies and ate lots of ice-cream and snacks.

I forgot how good it feels to be around my best friends. I feel bad for not letting them tell the rest of the pack of my location, but I just can't risk having him try and come find me.

And besides at least they'll all get some peace in mind knowing that I'm okay and not alone anymore.

Emily will be able to relax a little more knowing that her daughter figure is safe and protected along with her goddaughter.

I'll be okay. I didn't have many doubts about that before they found me but now I know that I can do this. They gave me strength and confidence that I didn't know I was lacking. It feels good to have my best friends back.

I fell asleep on the couch that night in the safe arms of my brother. That's probably the first true peaceful night I've had in these four months.

I had been sleeping fine but I always had some racing thoughts and worries before they found me making it difficult to fall asleep sometimes.

But sleep seemed like the easiest thing to do now that I have Jared here. And I know that it'll be just as easy, maybe even better once Jared switches out with either Embry or Quil.

My boys are back and they're not leaving and neither am I.

(I love their friendship!! Don't you?!)