Lightness Within All (Paul Lahote)

Part of the pack.

To say there was a comfortable Silence in the swan residence would be a lie, it was an unsettling depressive silence that Charlie had took notice of .
Both Bella and Bayla hadn't said one word to each other, both sharing uneasy glances at one another as they passed by in the kitchen and their hallway and Bayla begin feeling anger towards her sister.

She wasn't oblivious to Edward spending the night with Bella every night but instead of saying anything she kept it to herself and only shared smart remarks with her sister when they would speak .
Instead of hangout out with her sister, or being on the reservation Bella chose to spend every second with Edward that she could despite being grounded by Charlie .

As Bayla sat with Charlie in the living room she was indulged in a book Paul had lent her and as the front door closed shut her and Charlie shared uneasy looks .
Bella sat down on the couch and let out a heavy sigh, hating she had to be home at a certain everyday .
"Four a clock on the dot. Does he have a stopwatch or something?" Charlie asked while looking at the clock .
Bayla let out a small chuckle and Charlie met her eyes with a small chuckle of his own, leaving Bella irritated .
"He had a name dad. And what now he's too punctual for you?" Bella asked, the bitterness coating her words as Charlie let out a sigh of his own .

"I'll make you a deal bells. Your ungrounded if you use this now found freedom to hang out with some of your other friends...like Jake. Billy said he's been going through a rough patch lately and I remember when that was you, he was there whenever you needed him" Charlie said giving her a stern look.
"We all were" Bayla said without looking up from her book .

Bella rolled her eyes at her sisters remark and only nodded her head in Charlie's direction and going upstairs where Edward was already waiting, unknown to Charlie .
Bayla received a text from her phone and she quickly glanced at it, a smiling forming across her face as Charlie looked at her.
"That Jake?" Charlie asked, hoping in someway it was.
"Yea, says he's bored, wants to hangout" Bayla said getting up and leaving her book on the couch knowing her dad would put it up for her.
"Can I go?" Bayla asked, already skipping her small coat on.

Charlie laughed and nodded his head at his youngest daughter. Where Bella had no concern for Jacob, Charlie was glad that Bayla did.
"Of course. Just be safe, and uhh... y'all are being safe?" Charlie asked, watching as Baylas face turned bright red and she let out a holler of laughs.

"Me and Jake?! Oh my god dad! We're just friends!!" Bayla said laughing through breaths of her words, leaving Charlie confused but relieved all at once .
"Oh..right. Okay, well tell him I said hey" Charlie said, looking back at his newspaper that talked about a serial killer on the loose in port angelos .

*************************************************
"And then he asked if we were being safe!" Bayla said, laughing as she put her feet up on jakes couch.
Jake let his head roll back as the laughs escaped and his brown eyes shed a tear, the only laugh he had in a while.
"Oh man, that's good" Jake said wiping away his tears as the laughs died down.
"He know about Paul?" Jake asked, becoming more serious as he looked at Bayla.

He couldn't deny Baylas beauty, her grace, but still the feelings weren't there and sometimes he wished he could love someone other than Bella. But as he watched Baylas smile on her face he knew the feelings weren't there for her either and a small sadness ate at him.
"No...not yet" Bayla said
She had wanted to tell Charlie about paul but in a way she wasn't ready, not ready for Charlie's protective ways to come out, or for them to meet so she kept there texts and meetings hidden from Charlie who was oblivious to his daughters secret fling.

"Why not? Charlie will like him. Paul's good to you, that's all he wants." Jake said while popping a piece of Doritos into his mouth.
"I know that..it's just, Bella had, we you know who and right now Charlie is too caught up in them to put me in the mix. I'm waiting till things die down" Bayla explained, watching as jakes face turned into that of pain at the mention of Bella.

"She still mad at you?" Jake asked.
Bayla rolled her she's and leaned back into the recliner, feeling the torn leather beneath her arms and letting out a small frown.
"She hates me. She says I chose to be apart of the pack instead of with her.. i tried explaining you can only be apart of the pack if your a werewolf but she didn't listen.. she never does" Bayla said .
Jakes loud laughed startled her as she jumped and gave him a confusing look, nothing had been funny yet he was laughing, almost crying.

"Bay. You ARE part of the pack. Once a shapeshifter imprints one someone that person is in the pack, we have an Oath to protect them as if they were one of our own. Even if you had chosen to go with Bella you would still be part of our pack. Your in this for the long one bay. Hope you like running with the wolf's" Jake said with a smirk and a wink which made Bayla roll her eyes.

"I just wish Edward wasn't over there at night..gives me the creeps" Bayla said, her hands nervously twitching as she brought up his name.
"He..he spends the night over there?!" Jake said, his anger now rising to the top.
Bayla watched with a wary look and only nodded her head.
Jake got up and ran outside and as Bayla heard the sound of a howl she knew she had made a mistake
A mistake that would cost her gravely.