I'll be home for Christmas

Chapter 53

Chapter 53 - I'll be home for Christmas

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

Josh and Izzy were walking back to their cabin after eating in the communal hall. "Compare dicks?" She was a little annoyed with him. "What on earth, Josh?"

"He's so… frustrating." He gave her a scathing look. "Well what did you do? And don't tell me you did nothing. I know you would have spoken to him. He was making you crazy, as well."

I…" she stopped.

"What?" He sidled in close to her. "What did you say?"

"I told him I scratched your back during sex."

He grinned. "Uh-huh. And?"

"How do you know there is an and?"

"Answer the question."

"I made him sniff your blood under my nails."

He guffawed. "Oh, the poor bastard. I feel sorry for him, honestly I do."

"What else did you tell him?"

"I told him that you felt pity and guilt over him. No love."

Her face twisted but she sighed in a heartfelt way. "Yeah…"

"Izzy, this isn't your fault."

"I know."

"What else did you say about my dick?"

She huffed at him. "I told him he'd missed something if he didn't check it out."

"God, I love you."

"You owe me big."

"What would you like?"

"For you to talk to Sam."

"Oh, come on… no fair."

She gave him what she hoped was a stern look.

He sighed. "It's arranged for tomorrow at sunset. Good enough?"

"That's good."

"I can't make it up to him, but I can apologize. In fact, that's pretty much all I can do."

"It's a start."

Not unexpectedly, Sam, Embry and Josh met back where Josh had performed the spirit stick ceremony. He drew a large circle around them and isolated them from the rest of the pack with a few muttered words and a thought that closed the line; they felt the tingle in the air. This was not something that any of them wanted to share with the pack. The sun was setting and it struck him that this was almost he opposite time to the spirit stick ceremony. The end of the day, not the start.

"Embry goes first," he said. "Is that okay with you, Sam?"

He nodded.

"I won't share any of my memories, this isn't about me." Josh knew Sam was still unsure of this and he hoped if he could share Embry's memories first, that might give Sam the impetus to do the same. "We need to phase. We can talk wolf mind and the circle keeps the pack out."

They both nodded and prepared to phase.

Embry.

I don't know where to start, so I'll just start at the beginning.