Don't go wasting your emotion
Lay all your love on me
Don't go sharing your devotion
~ ABBA "Lay All Your Love On Me"
Brooklyn was kind of nervous to sit with Seth's new friends for lunch. Sure, she had met most of them at one point or another— La Push was a small town— but this was different. Seth had obviously grown close to this group in the few weeks that she and him had spent apart, and while they hadn't really talked about where they stood in terms of their relationship, Seth was still her best friend and the father of the baby she was carrying. Brooklyn just didn't want to mess things up. She was still a little scared that Seth would break his promise again and leave her to take care of their baby alone. Don't get her wrong, she loves Seth and she's known him for basically her entire life, but he had left her without warning once before, and who's to say he wouldn't do it again? Brooklyn was doing her best to trust him the way she used to, but the circumstances were different this time around, and the stakes were exponentially higher this time— this wasn't just about her anymore, this was about their baby.
By the time lunch came around, Brooklyn was still a little nervous about eating with Seth's friends. She grabbed her bag and made her way out of the classroom.
"Brooke!"
Seth had been waiting outside of her class for her.
"Hey," she smiled at him. Just seeing his face made her less nervous.
"You ready for lunch?" he asked her.
She nodded, and he took her hand in his as they walked through the hall.
"We've ever gotten to do this before," Brooklyn said.
"Do what before?" Seth asked her.
"Hold hands at school," she replied.
"Oh. Yeah, I guess you're right," Seth told her.
They walked into the cafeteria, and made their way to the pack's usual table. The guys were arguing animatedly about something when Seth and Brooklyn sat down.
"Hey, guys. Most of you have probably met her, but for those who haven't this is Brooklyn," Seth introduced her to the table. "Brooklyn, these are the guys... And Kim."
"Hi," Brooklyn said with a shy wave.
"Can I ask you something?" Embry asked her.
"Uh— okay," she told him.
"Which would win in a fight— a grizzly bear or a great white shark?" he asked. And just like that, her nerves melted away.
"Is the fight in water or on land?" she countered.
"Either way," Embry says.
"Grizzly bear," she says difinitively.
"How can you say that?" Quil exclaims. "Sharks live in water. If they fought in water then the shark would definitely win."
"I'm with Brooke on this one," says Seth. "A grizzly bear would definitely win. Even in water."
"Of course you're on her side," Quil retorts.
"No, I'm serious," Seth says. "A fully grown grizzly bear can smack the head clean off of an adult human. Plus they bite and have giant claws, and they can swim, and they can run like thirty-something miles per hour."
"And a grizzly bear's bite force is almost as strong as a great white sharks," Brooklyn adds.
"But a great white shark is so much bigger than a grizzly bear, and in water, it's a lot faster," Jake argues.
This argument continues on for the rest of lunch— they never did manage to agree on an answer to Embry's question, but everyone, including Kim, had formed an opinion by the time the bell rang.
"Will we see you at Sam's after school?" Kim asked Brooklyn.
"Oh, I don't think so," Brooklyn replied awkwardly. Seth hadn't invited her, and she didn't want to intrude.
"No, you should totally come," Kim insisted. "That place could really use more female energy."
Brooklyn looked at Seth to gauge his opinion.
"I was gonna invite you, but I guess Kim beat me to the punch," he said with a smile.
"Alright," Brooklyn said to Kim. "I'll see you after school."
After school, Seth and Brooklyn got a ride from Jared to Sam Uley's house. Brooklyn and Kim chatted throughout the car ride. Seth was glad that she was getting along with the pack, it was important to him that she enjoyed spending time with the pack since her imprint status meant that she was technically a part of it. She just didn't know it yet.
"Hey, we'll meet you inside in a minute," Seth told Jared and Kim.
Brooklyn gave him a questioning look.
"Come on," he told her as he guided her to the direction of the woods. "There's something I want to talk to you about."
"You're not about to murder me, right?" Brooklyn said jokingly.
"Of course not," Seth replied with a smile. "That was one of our rules— no dying."
Once Seth had decided they were in a secluded enough area, he began to talk.
"Okay, so this is going to sound totally crazy, and I'm not really sure how to say it, but I need you to just bear with me... Do you remember the old Quileute legends about the shape-shifting wolves?" Seth asked her.
"Yeah," she said. "Seth, why did you bring me out to the middle of the woods to talk about some old legends?"
"Well... Because they aren't just legends. They're real, and I'm one of them."
She was too confused to respond to that, so she just made a quizzical face. Was he being serious right now?
"Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I can prove it," Seth told her.
"Alright," Brooklyn said. "Go ahead and prove it."
He began taking off his clothes.
"Seth, what are you doing?" she asked. Brooklyn had obviously seen him naked before, but he was acting really crazy right now. First, he was telling her that he was a shape-shifter, and now he was stripping in the middle of the woods. She was starting to get concerned.
"I'm proving it," Seth said as he backed up several feet.
"How is this pro—" She was cut off by a loud popping sound. Where Seth had previously been standing, there now stood a giant sandy colored wolf. "Oh."
She watched as he shifted back. Brooklyn didn't say anything as Seth began to redress himself.
"Are you okay? Did I freak you out?" he asked her.
"Are you okay? I'm not the one who just turned into a giant wolf" she retorted.
"So you aren't freaking out?" Seth asked.
"I mean, a little," she told him. "But, the legends said the wolves were protectors, so I trust you not to maul me or whatever."
He laughed. "There's one more thing I gotta tell you."
"Should I be scared?" Brooklyn asked.
"No," he snorted. "It's a good thing. I promise. Way less weird than the wolf thing."
"Okay," she smiled at him. He looked really nervous to say whatever it was he needed to tell her.
"The legends talk about this thing that wolves do when they find their soulmate. It's called imprinting. When a shifter looks into the eyes of his imprint for the first time, his whole life changes. She becomes the most important person in his life, it's no longer gravity holding him to the Earth, it's her. He would do anything to protect her, and her happiness becomes more important than his own. Imprints can exist in the form of friendship, but they usually evolve into more.
"Ever since the day I met you, back when we were little kids and I hit you in the face with that soccer ball, I knew that you were supposed to be in my life. I always felt really lucky to have a friend who really gets me the way that you do, but now I know that luck had nothing to do with it— it was fate. We were supposed to meet, and we were always meant to be in each other's lives.
"And when we got older, and our friendship turned into more, I knew that you were it for me— you're the only person I have ever been able to imagine spending the rest of my life with. But then my dad died, some really weird things started happening, and I had to leave you to protect you. When we were apart, it was one of the hardest times of my life because I spent every second of every day wishing that I could tell you what was going on with me, but I couldn't. And then I found out about the baby, and I couldn't let other people tell me that I couldn't see you anymore because I realized that the best way for me to protect you wasn't by pushing you away— it was by pulling you closer. That day that I broke into your house changed my life, and not just because I had just found out that we were gonna have a baby, it was because the universe was finally telling me what I already knew— that we're meant to be together.
"Brooke, I imprinted on you that day. You're my soulmate," he finished speaking.
She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything. Instead, she marched up to him, and pulled him into a kiss. The kiss was more passionate than any they had ever shared before. When they broke apart, she finally spoke.
"So does this mean that I can call you my boyfriend now?"
"Nothing would make me happier," Seth grinned at her.
They stayed in the woods a while longer, and discussed everything more in depth. Seth told Brooklyn all about the pack, and the things they could do. He also told her about vampires— she was concerned, but she took it surprisingly well. Seth told her that their baby could also grow up to be a shifter one day, which she thought was pretty cool. Brooklyn was glad that she finally knew what was going on. All of the fears that she had about Seth leaving again went away. She knew that he was all in, and so was she.