Sidney
I slept through the night thankfully, comfortably snuggled up to Beckett who I had turned into my own personal space heater, he kept me plenty warm with the thin blanket Bowen had covered me with during the movie the night before. I woke with the scent of all of them lingering strongly in my nose as I forced my own body not to react to the scent of them, hormonal morning body functions were not the most pleasant of wake up calls when dealing with my own desires. I was also trapped tightly against Beck due to his vice like hold on my waist, everyone else was sleeping scattered around the room, even Colton was sleeping in today and I didn't blame him for being exhausted with this past week.
I poked at Beckett's cheek with a frown but he didn't stir from his sleep so instead I chose the good old switcheroo tactic to get myself free. I had a couch pillow behind me and with a little squirmy maneuvering I slipped out of his arms and let him put his vice grip on the pillow instead as I headed silently into the kitchen, being careful not to wake any of the boys and my pets followed my lead. I was quick to start up the coffee pot before feeding the three fur babies, and then it was time to settle my mind on what I wanted for breakfast. I found a wafflemaker in a cubard and after a quick check for ingredients I decided to make homemade waffles with scrambled eggs and bacon on the side.
The room was quick to fill with the delicious scent of fresh waffles and bubbling bacon grease, I multitasked wonderfully as I also worked the scrambled eggs onto the stove. "Something smells amazing in here." Gavin rumbled out sleepily as he and the others filed into the kitchen a bit drowsy from freshly waking. "Ooo waffles!" Tucker bounced forward, apparently forgetting drowsiness was a thing as he snatched one fro the growing stack and took a big bite. "Mmmmmmmm, guys you have to try these, they're even better than the ones Fletch makes." Tucker moaned out.
"Well they are homemade, and I like to and a little vanilla extract and cinnamon to give them a bit more flavor." I shrugged as I set the finished eggs aside and flipped the bacon one last time, before pouring out the last of the batter into the waffle iron. "I 100% approve." Tucker said with a mouthful and I shook my head at him, smiling as Colton pulled out to mugs and proceeded to make me a cup of coffee like usual. "Yeah well it seemed like a nice big breakfast kind of day, plus keeping busy helps keeps my mind off of other matters I really don't want to focus on right now." I muttered the last part under my breath but I was sure most if not all of them heard me clearly, thankfully they didn't question it though.
"Oh and that reminds me I'm going to need some of you to go into town and pick up a few things today, one being a new mattress to replace the one I destroyed and the other thing being a new door for the Alvalrado's bathroom since B.S. kicked it in." I shot him a glare and he had the decency to look sheepish. "Why so urgent to get it today?" Colton asked as I played the last waffle and turned off the stove top, happily taking the coffee he offered me. "Because I'm guessing they'll all be back sometime late tonight or early tomorrow and I want everything fixed up before they get back." I shrugged my answer as I filled my own plate with food. "What about the rest of us and you?" Asher questioned gently.
"Whoever doesn't go into town will be helping me patrol the entire territory and get rid of any intruders that are still hanging around, I want it safe for when the Alvalrado pups return." I stated, silently daring them to try disagreeing with my decision. Wisely none if them objected to my determination and we had a peaceful yet quick breakfast before getting down to business. "Alright so who is going where?" Simon posed his question to me and I pondered over the answer a moment. "Are you and Beck healed enough to shift today?" I quizzed him as I nodded to the fact that neither of them were wearing their bandages anymore. "Yes the wounds are healed nice enough, and shifting shouldn't be a problem, although if we're fighting we'll have to be careful." Simon replied slowly.
"Hey if there's a possibility for any battles I volunteer for patrol since I got left out of the last big fight." Beck was eager and I nodded back, as long as he was healed I didn't mind. "Alright, Daniel, Tucker, Gavin and Fletcher I want you heading into town as soon as you can, and Danny boy I'm counting on that artistic photography eye of yours to make sure the replacement mattress and door will work for what needs replaced." I stated and he was quick to smile back at me. "No problem Sid, I'll make sure it's functional and not too fancy, and I won't let these three pick anything too crazy." He chuckled out with a jab at the other three boys who were quick to object but their complaints died off easy enough. They were not the best fighters of the group but they were still plenty strong enough to do some heavy lifting when needed, so the town option was the best for the four of them for now.
"Good now for everyone else you'll be on patrol and traspassing eviction duty with me. Simon I don't want you fighting unless absolutely necessary, you'll be mainly tagging along in case someone gets injured and needs patched up. Beck I know there's no use telling you to hold back but if your shoulder starts bothering you I want to know about it, and at least try to be careful or I will be forced to order you back to the house and off of patrol, understood?!" I barked out roughly to a scowling Beck. "As long as you let me fight I'll do whatever you ask, I'll try my best to keep things careful." He reluctantly grumbled out. "Alright then, let's get these dishes done and get to work." I called the end of our little discussion and we were off to our tasks in no time. I was more than happy to keep myself busy but before I could go running through the woods in wolf form I needed a little help with something.
So after seeing the four boys off as they headed into town I asked Colton to follow me upstairs for a moment and led him to the room where I'd left my bag. "What did you need help with Sid?" His question was cautious as his eyes darted for the door at his back. "Relax Beta boy, I'm not going to jump you, I just need your help with this since it's hard to spray down without hands. Here just hold this for me and turn around so I can do the good old strip and shift." I handed him one of the spray bottles and waited for him to turn his back as I'd instructed, only then did I strip down and set my clothes aside. I did so more out of respect for Colt than for my own benefit, all of them had seen me naked but I wasn't going to press my luck too much even with one of the well behaved makes of the group, the less trouble the better.
Colton
I kept my back turned and eyes closed, keeping a tight grip on the spray bottle Sid handed me as I listened to the soft thud of clothes hitting the floor and the soft taps of her bare footsteps. Only when I heard the sound of claws clicking instead of the soft taps did I turn back around. I caustiously kept my eyes closed just in case, and the scent of her was noticeably stronger with her in wolf form. "You can open your eyes now Beta boy." Her link was slightly amused and I carefully met her wolf gaze with my own. "So you wanted me to help make sure you're not trailing your scent everywhere?" I quizzed with a gesture to the bottle in my hand.
"Yeah I figured you were the best option to help give me a spray down without being too weird about it." Her link was a quick response, it was nice knowing she trusted me with this sort of thing. "Well let's get this over with then." I sighed out as she stepped forward and allowed me to spray the scent masking concoction over her. It was strange how quickly her scent went from being the most evident thing in the room to vanishing from existence entirely with a few quick spritz, it was like she was never here and she was standing right in front of me. "Thanks, now let's get going, we've got a territory to patrol." She linked as she trotted out the door and headed downstairs, I put the bottle vack and followed.
We all headed out even the three mutts were going out with us today as we checked the boundary lines. We marked them up with our own scent to keep out intruders until the Alvalrado's could do the job themselves, Sidney thankfully kept her scent covered up and left the boundary marking to us. It was a large territory and going at the pace of the mutts tagging along made it a slower process but other than a few surprise groups of rogues it was a peaceful patrol. Beck got his little fight he'd wished for and no one was injured, although I quickly learned why Sid insisted on bringing the dogs along.
They were strong fighters in their own right and after nearly getting sideswiped by a rogue laying in ambush I was thankful to the three of them for working together to block him and take him down. Sidney was quick to praise their kill and we moved on without a word, and after a couple more hours of patrol we headed back in. I was a little confused as to why Sidney was leading us towards the Alvalrado's place instead of the guest house until I saw the four unloading a new bathroom door.
She wanted to check they were okay and safe, and after setting eyes on them she turned back towards the guest house. "We're not staying?" I asked through the link as I trotted at her side. "Not unless you expect me to help install that door in the nude." She retorted easily, yeah forgot about that one for a minute. "We'll just go get some clothes really quick and then head back over to help out." She linked as we picked up the pace a bit, and sure enough we did just that. The only problem was, not everything went according to plan due to Bowen forgetting how well linked we were to her, and by everyone's reactions I feared the worst possible outcome.
Bowen
We had lunch once we showed up and met with the others, apparently Fletch insisted on it before setting up the door and Sidney agreed with him. I had been the one to help wash dishes with Colt before heading up to join the others working on cleaning up. They had gotten the broken door into the hallway and cleaned up the bathroom and now Sidney seemed to be trying to instruct the chaos of installing the new one. She had Micah holding it in place and was correcting Gavin on what went where with attaching the hinges. Most of the boys seemed flustered in their frustration, very few of us were good with patience in following instructions on installing or building things.
"I give up, this stupid door is evil, I vote for just nailing a blanket over the doorway as a curtain." Gavin dropped the screws in outrage as he threw his hands up in defeat. "No, just no." Sidney huffed as Gavin sat on the bathroom counter in his pouting. "We'll figure all of this out eventually, like maybe by the time of the next ice age." Beck grunted at the paper instructions in his hand. ""Don't worry about all their whining Gorgeous the little ladies just like to complain, afraid they'll break a nail, they're not all manly men like me." Micah puffed out as he flexed his muscles, inducating he was holding the heavy door in place on his own. Sidney's look of disapproval came a moment before Gavin's actions, the his of a shaving cream can from the counter as Gavin blocked his work from view had me curious.
Micah growled but to keep from dropping the door on Sid he couldn't defend himself, although I was certain Sid could hold the door back as well. "Now who's the manly man?" Gavin jeered as he stepped back to reveal the shaving cream bra he'd supplied Micah with, Sidney seemed to be fighting back a grin as we all sent out a bit of teasing to Micah. "Gav, I am going to kill you." Micah snarled out angrily his way which Sidney quickly tutted at. "Ah, ah, ah Carrots there will be no such killing unless I say so. Now all you're missing is the dress from our old bet and the look would be complete." She finally let herself go and burst into a bit of girl as that quickly turned into contagious laughter, and even Micah joined in.
I couldn't help laughing with them and enjoying the sight and feeling of Sidney's joy, this was all I ever really wanted anymore. Watching the pack interact with her my heart soared with how happy I was that our plan was working. I loved the feisty little she wolf more than anything and the others subconsciously linked their agreement. There was a sudden realization of my mistake but by then it was too late to reel everything back in, Sidney's sharp intake of breath stilled everyone in the room as my heart plummeted to my feet in a millisecond. I had just made it perfectly clear how we all felt about her, and due to the immediate shut down of the pack link to her, I was guessing she wasn't all that pleased.
Her eyes met mine and there was a certain cold and accusatory glint staring back at me, I was frozen and speechless over my unforgivable mess up. "Sidney..." Colt was able to draw her attention off me as her same accusation stared him down. "What. The. H***. Was. That." Each word gritted between her teeth had me cowering where I stood, wishing I could just run from the rejection her shut down indicated. "Nothing, absolutely nothing." Simon tried to cover but her snarl silenced him in an instant. "Don't you dare lie to me right now!" She warned us with a growl, I still couldn't bring myself to speak and noticing this she focused back on a much calmer Colt.
"You all just confessed your love and undying loyalty to me without a word and you expect me to just ignore that?" She accused, her tone seemed almost disappointed. "No Sid, not at all." Colt replied with the shake of his head, his tone calm and light which seemed to help put her at ease ever so slightly. "Then answer me this, is it true?" She spoke softly in an uncertainty that I had caused, it was silent for a while and even Colt was reluctant to answer so I finally stepped up to take responsibility. "Yes." I barely choked the word out and so many emotions flickered over her face so quickly that I couldn't read what she was feeling at all.
"Is this true for everyone?" She barked the question out and everyone nodded confirmation, Micah gently leaned the door against the wall and wiped the shaving cream off his shirt. "Well that's extremely inconvenient." She grunted out roughly, her tone was like cold knife to the chest. "So you don't love us back then?" Fletcher whimpered out his painful disappointment was clear. "What do you expect me to say Puppet when you spring life changing news on me so suddenly like that?" She let her tone be more gentle but there was still a firm set to her jaw, I could almost hear her grinding her teeth. "It's not so sudden for us you know, we've been discussing this for a long while now." Asher whispered out.
"Of course you have." She scoffed out in that same accusatory tone, but she seemed to be pondering something silently as well. "Let me guess, that's why you insisted on training here where there's a polymorphic pack, you wanted to get me used to the idea of accepting all of you." Her words were dead on and she seemed to know it because there was no question in her tone. "If you're going to reject us just get it over with already, we still aren't going anywhere, we'll just have to deal with being eternally friend zoned." Beck grunted out roughly but even he was hurt by the thought despite trying to hide it. "I mean what even... there's twice as many of you as the Alvalrado's...this just isn't logical!" The way she was rambling had hope creeping back into me and the others felt it too.
"You're not saying no." I whispered and her eyes shot to mine. "That's because I'm still trying to puzzle out whatever made you think of such a stupid idea." She barked back. "Like you said about Titanic love is stupid and selfish." Emmett tried to joke out and Sid groaned into her hands. "It could work you know that, with you leading us it could work, this past week showed us that. We all love you Sidney, the question is, do you love us back?" Daniel voiced softly and we all waited silently for her answer as she took a deep steadying breath. "No." She sighed out and a second knife was plunged into my heart as my wolf whimpered his anguish in the back of my mind.
"Don't get me wrong, I care about all of you very much, perhaps a bit more than just friends in some ways, but love? I just don't see all of you like that right now if I'm being honest I'm not sure that I can, love is a very dangerous thing for me and I'm just not ready for any of that right now." The truth in her words hurt but there was hope for a possible future to change her mind. "Can you just see how things turn out, we won't force you to love us back but if you do decide you feel the same way about us can you try to keep an open mind?" I felt like getting on my knees and begging as Colt spoke, she reopened the pack link and let us feel her out. She did care about us more than we realized but she was also balking away from the thought of our love like it burned her.
"I can try but I'll warn you my mind can be very stubborn, but I still like having your company as friends if you don't hate me after this." She whispered a flood of sadness at the thought of leaving us made me even more hopeful that she wanted this to work too. "You're not going to get rid of us that easy Sidney Blake." I smiled softly, sensing her sudden resolve to get rid of our inconvenient pack link as soon as possible. "Sounds good to me, now let's get this door up properly, shall we?" Her subject change was obvious and everyone was eager to jump on it, this wasn't over yet though, none of us would give her up that easily.
*Sid knows. She knows! Was not expecting that so quick and with Sidney still uncertain it seemed only fitting she reject the thought right now, but what is she really thinking? Guess we'll see soon enough.*