Preventive • Paul Lahote •

Chapter Seventeen

A/N; sorry for all the story spam, but like I've said before this has been done and sitting for so long on my computer. I haven't completed the re-write and I probably never will so I finally decided to just post all of the chapters from the original that I still had, no matter how short or crappy they are. There was the beginning of a sequel that answered the questions like "who was the leech", "do they get together", ect. and honestly, I'm just not feeling this story and haven't since about the week after I wrote most of it so this short little chapter is going to be the end. 

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Chapter Seventeen

Maddison was still reeling from the sensory and information overload as she quietly followed Sam, Paul, and Jacob back to the Black household. She caught Paul and Jacob casting her worried looks over their shoulders as they walked, but no one broke the silence. Maddison looked around in shock and awe as she noticed broken trees and the Black's old boat that was in pieces. She subtly ran her hand across the deep gouges in a few trees as they walked and tried to remember the feeling of putting the marks into the trees. It all was a blur of rage, and she wondered if it was like that for all of them.

"Stop thinking so hard, we can all hear you when you do that."

Maddison stopped dead in her tracks and Paul's voice floated into her mind. She could see herself, her messy hair covering her face as her hand was frozen mid air against the deep gouges in an old oak tree. Her eyes were closed, and she looked almost ethereal. She instinctively knew that the image was from another's eyes. She got a sudden image of her own blue eyes as the world shifted, before she opened her to see that Jacob and Sam were entering the Black household, leaving on her and Paul outside.

Feeling both embarrassed – from the way that Paul viewed her- and angry at his sudden attention, Maddison dropped her hand from the tree and continued to walk towards the house. As she tried to pass Paul, he grabbed onto her wrist. It took everything in Maddison's power not to sink into the touch, as it felt like a fire was starting at her wrist and burning through her entire system.

"Maddison." His voice was quiet, and she could hear the forced calmness about it. "We should talk."

She spared him a glance and felt like dying.

"I don't wanna talk anymore."

Paul released her arm with a frustrated huff. "We need to! I know you're pissed, but you have to understand-"

"I do understand, and that's why I can't be mad even when I want to be."

Their eyes locked.

"You know?"

He looked relieved and nervous.

"I grew up with the legends too, I know what this," she gestured between the two of them, "is supposed to mean."

And she did. She loved the legends about the great romances, the protectors, and the magi's when she was growing up. She had asked her mother to tell her over-and-over about the soul mates, or imprints. Her mother always told her that only truly special people find their soul mate, but that the protectors always had a magical way of knowing when they had. She didn't want to think of herself as some princess, and him some prince that would live happily ever after, but she knew the implication of his stare. She knew that they were made to protect each other, that they would need each other. And while it was confusing and scary, she wasn't going to be mad at him. She wanted to.

God, did she want to be mad.

But she was so tired of being mad at him. She was so tired of being the sad, broken girl with no friends. She was so tired of trying to prevent the inevitable that, all she could do was sigh.

"I know what this is, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to figure out what it means."

Paul looked down at her watery blue eyes and felt himself nod his head. He knew what she meant. They were both broken, angry, and trying to make it through a drastic change in their lives; her much more so than him- but they needed time to heal.

"Well, I know it doesn't count for much after everything that I've done, but I'll be waiting for the day that you decide you do."

Maddison let a soft smile play on her face at his response.

"Even if I make you wait forever?"

"I'd wait forever and a day."

Maddison snorted as she pushed the cheeky boy towards the house.

"You're an idiot."

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A/N: so that's it. If I ever come back to this, I will have actual romance but at this point in the slowburn story they just weren't there. Maddison still has a lot of development and healing to do and I kind of died out after I made them get together in the original drafts. Just know from here there is potential for a continuation but that this kind of off-cadence ending seems fitting for Maddison in this point. She knows she loves Paul, because she always has, but she has been dealing with a crap-ton of poorly written stuff and -even though they both love each other- have stuff to deal with. Sorry if you invested time and don't like the ending but I kind-of like the open endedness of their relationship; because they've always been a big question mark. 

In other news, my supernatural fic., umbrella academy fic., and Game of Thrones fic. are officially on update schedules (starting 4/21.) so if you're interested I can assure that there will be consistency with those up until about 40,000 words in. 

Thank you, love you all for your votes, comments, follows, and views!!!