TWENTY-NINE|Friends Like These

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"Should we go to a bar then?" Paul wondered as Olivia had made a fire quickly and it was crackling in the twilight hours as her, Paul and Jared were sitting around it.

"Paul, she has a fricking newborn baby with her." Jared said as he reached over and he swiftly smacked his fellow werewolf upside the head.

Chayton was crying for food and Olivia sighed as she looked over at the two. "You guys don't mind..." They both got what she meant right away as they both rather politely turned away from the fire for a few minutes. "All good." Olivia said as they were both turning back around.

"We both know better than to think that even with a newborn baby being carried around with you, that you aren't able to kick our asses." Jared remarked and Olivia chuckled a little, as she was using her jacket to cover Chayton who was silent now, as he was eating. Well, drinking might be more correct.

"Damn right." Olivia murmured with a smirking grin on her face and she would have given him a fist-bump for that, if it wasn't for the fact, that she was currently holding Chayton. "So, how awkward is it with Sam and Carmen both being inside of your heads?" She asked as the two of them groaned at the words.

"You want to tell your point of view first?" Jared asked and at the words, Paul was immediately shaking his head.

"No, man, no way. I know better than to open up that can of worms, Sam has a direct line to us right here!" Paul said and quickly now, he was gesturing at Olivia, who was glaring at him.

"He would see it inside of your head anyways, Paul, so he can also see that I'm about to kick your ass!" Olivia snapped as Paul looked over at her.

"What's going on?" Paul asked.

"Yeah Liv, what's wrong?" Jared asked with barely a heartbeat in between and she sighed, while she was looking quickly into the flames of the fire.

"I suppose that you will see it in his head anyways, but... I got worried when I talked to Sam earlier about the issue of him, only keeping Carmen back. I don't know if something in my chemo-signals gave it away or, or if it was something in the way that I stood. But whatever it was, he got a message that I never, ever would have intentionally meant to send." She admitted and at the words, the two of them, they were looking at each other before moving their gazes to her again.

"What was the message?" Paul asked the question, like he was afraid that she was going to lose it on him and Olivia looked at them again.

"That I was worried about the distinct and rather worrying possibility, of Sam hurting Chayton by phasing through heavy, almost uncontrollable emotions." Olivia admitted and the two of them looked at her with their jaws practically on the ground.

"That's a totally good reason to be worried, so why in the hell isn't Sam accepting it as a good move?!" Jared demanded to know and Olivia shook her head a little, with a faint shrug to match it and he was shaking his head in disbelief. "I mean, that's crazy that he could be mad about a reasonable fear like that." Jared was letting it out and Olivia sighed.

"I don't know why he is so damn upset about it... I mean, maybe he is just worried that I don't trust him?" Olivia was just guessing and she felt like going up to the nearest tree and then, just banging her fricking head against it until she had managed to knock herself out. "Damn it, why did I even say anything?"

"Hey, no." Jared spoke up immediately as he moved closer to sit next to her. "Don't do that to yourself, Olivia, you had every right to voice your fear. You have seen us when we are angry, you have seen us on a hunt. We are like bloodhounds and when we're angry, we have little to no control. I mean frankly if I was Sam, I would be a little more concerned about my imprint if they weren't even considering that as a possibility." Jared said as he looked at her with a shake of his head. "So, don't you go down that road." He said and she nodded a little.

"Thanks." Olivia murmured quietly and he offered her a hug as she leaned against him for the hug. "Paul, you got anything to add to that?" She asked him swiftly with a barely perceptible smile on her face.

"Well, I can't see myself topping it. But I do know that you have great instincts, Liv. So, I think that you should maybe do what you have always done." Paul was trying to find some way to add to what Jared had said and he sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he thought about what to say.

"Yeah, sure thing for that Paulo. But what exactly have I always done? And what do my instincts have to do with it?" Olivia asked as Chayton was back in the infant car seat, with Olivia zipping up her jacket again.

"Your instincts have always been sharp on all fronts, strong and stubborn. Every time you follow them, you avoid something that could make it all worse. Just keep following your instincts, Olivia, at least until you read them wrong." Paul said as Jared handed the baby seat over to Paul, who was switching from his normally heavy-handed self to a gentle soul in a snap.

They were trying to give the clearly exhausted Olivia a break, as she was almost asleep in front of the fire. Paul was gently rocking the infant car seat back and forth as Jared hummed quietly under his breath and eventually, Chayton was sound asleep in the carrier. "It's a damn miracle." Olivia said in disbelief, when she saw that he was asleep.

"No, I'm Paul." Paul said deadpanned and Jared laughed at the words and so did Olivia who was shaking her head.

"All right, now which one of you is going to help me back to the house? I'm dead on my feet and something tells me that if I try to go by myself, I will run head-long into a damn fucking tree." Olivia muttered.

"I'll get the fire." Paul said as he was dumping water onto the fire, after they had moved Chayton further away from it in case the smoke went everywhere. Paul ran back to the house and he came back with another two buckets for the fire.

After they were sure that the fire was put out completely, Paul was carrying Chayton in the seat and Jared was giving the clearly exhausted Olivia, a piggyback ride back to the house.

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